Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in Frognal:

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Frognal, you will need to appoint a conveyancing solicitor with leasehold experience. Whether your mortgage company is to be Santander, Birmingham Midshires or Nationwide make sure you choose a lawyer on their panel. Feel free to use our search tool

Frognal leasehold conveyancing Example Support Desk Enquiries

Planning to complete next month on a leasehold property in Frognal. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Frognal should include some of the following:

  • Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
  • The physical extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but may incorporate a roof space or basement if appropriate.
  • You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
  • The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
  • Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
  • What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
  • What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Frognal please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Frognal

  • I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Frognal which have approximately 50 years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

    There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Frognal is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Frognal conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

    Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Frognal. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

    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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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).

    I work for a long established estate agency in Frognal where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Frognal conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

    Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

    Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

    Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Frognal from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

    • Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Frognal can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
    • The majority landlords or managing agents in Frognal charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Frognal.
  • Some Frognal leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, 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 able to meet the yearly 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
  • If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Frognal home move. If a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
  • You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage 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.

  • I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Frognal. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

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

    An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Frognal premises is Raised Ground Floor Flat 20 Fitzjohns Avenue in July 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premiums to be paid for new leases in respect of the Raised Ground Floor Flat and the First Floor Flat were to be calculated as: Raised Ground Floor: £765,175.14 First Floor: £601,617.77 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 16.83 and 16.43.