I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in Belgravia. Conveyancing solicitors have are soon to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Belgravia ?

Most houses in Belgravia are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Belgravia so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Belgravia conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer will appraise you on the various issues.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Belgravia. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Belgravia who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Belgravia conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Belgravia. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Belgravia from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Belgravia can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Belgravia charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Belgravia.
• Some Belgravia leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 375000 flat in Belgravia in 10 days. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Belgravia?

Belgravia conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

My wife and I have hit a brick wall in trying to purchase the freehold in Belgravia. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Belgravia conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Belgravia property is Flat 3 47 Cadogan Square in December 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable to the landord by the leaseholder for the lease extension was £732,935 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 13.33 years.

Belgravia Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Where a Belgravia lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are content with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. For most Belgravialease extensions you would need to own the premises for a couple of years before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension. Its a good idea to find out as much as possible about the managing agents as they can either make life much easier or uncomfortable. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day issues like the cleanliness of the common parts. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of their management. In conclusion, find out the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the appropriate party and specifically how they are spending the funds.