Fixed-fee leasehold conveyancing in New Southgate:

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When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in New Southgate, you will need to appoint a conveyancing lawyer with leasehold experience. Whether your lender is to be Santander, Yorkshire Building Society or Nationwide make sure you find a lawyer on their approved list. Find a New Southgate conveyancing lawyer with our search tool

Sample questions relating to New Southgate leasehold conveyancing

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years remaining on my flat in New Southgate. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing New Southgate.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in New Southgate.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold flat in New Southgate. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in New Southgate who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a New Southgate conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in New Southgate both have approximately 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in New Southgate. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming 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 difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in New Southgate with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in New Southgate can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
  • The majority landlords or Management Companies in New Southgate levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in New Southgate.
  • In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? New Southgate leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Should you dont have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.
  • Some New Southgate leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 purchasers or their solicitors.
  • If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a New Southgate conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

    • I inherited a second floor flat in New Southgate. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for a lease extension?

    Where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to assess the sum to be paid.

    An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a New Southgate premises is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 70.31 years.

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in New Southgate