I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Forest Hill - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My husband and I may need to sub-let our Forest Hill ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Forest Hill conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Your lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Forest Hill do not prevent subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Forest Hill which have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Forest Hill can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Forest Hill state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the approvals in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.

If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy process and slows down many a Forest Hill conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £250000 apartment in Forest Hill next Friday . The freeholder has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Forest Hill?

For most leasehold sales in Forest Hill conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Forest Hill
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Forest Hill leasehold premises is £350. For Forest Hill conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide the information.

After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Forest Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Forest Hill property is Flat 1 40-42 Ewelme Road in August 2012. the Tribunal assessed the premium for the lease extension in the sum of £11,800 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 61.81 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Forest Hill