I am looking at a couple of flats in West Green which have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in West Green. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am employed by a busy estate agency in West Green where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local West Green conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in West Green from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Green can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in West Green levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Green.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in West Green state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Should you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a West Green home move. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. 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 £ 425000 maisonette in West Green in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in West Green?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in West Green
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for West Green leasehold premises is £350. For West Green 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 required to supply answers.

After years of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West Green. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a West Green conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a West Green flat is 61 Clinton Road in April 2012. Following a vesting order Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court under section 26 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 on 5th July 2011 the Tribunal decided that the price that the Applicant for the freehold interest should pay is £17,000 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 73.88 years.

Are there frequently found problems that you come across in leases for West Green properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in West Green. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain sections are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Barnsley Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.

West Green Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Many West Green leasehold properties will have a service charge for the upkeep of the block invoiced on behalf of the landlord. Should you purchase the flat you will have to pay this contribution, normally quarterly during the year. This may vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say around £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.