Being Prepared With the Information that Your Conveyancer Will Need.

When selling a Leasehold Property, there is a lot of information about the leasehold property that your buyer’s solicitor will require from the landlord. The biggest delay in selling a Leasehold property is obtaining this information. A certain amount of the information about the leasehold property must come directly from the landlord, however there is a lot of information you may gather for your leasehold property in readiness.

Landlords and/or their Managing Agents will invariably make a charge for providing the information about the leasehold property. The amount that Landlords and Managing Agents charge for this information varies and can be as much as £300.00. The Landlord/Managing Agent will not provide the information reegarding the leasehold property until they have been paid. So it is important to find out from the Landlord/Managing Agent from the outset what they are going to charge and make sure that they are paid at the earliest opportunity to gain the information about the leasehold property as soon as possible.

It is important that you appoint Conveyancers who are experienced in Leasehold properties as soon as you put your property on market and make sure that they start obtaining the necessary information about your leasehold property from your Landlord/Managing Agent as soon as you have a purchaser.

Although it is not strictly necessary to appoint a firm with experience in leasehold conveyancing, it is a considerable advantage to do so as they will be familiar with the local Landlords/Managing Agents.

Information that will be required about the leasehold property from the Landlord:

• Up to date Buildings Insurance
• Last three years Service Charge Accounts
• Estimate of Next Year Service Charge Account
• Up to Date Service Charge statement (and receipt) for your leasehold Property.
• Copy of any Notices Served (for example, in relation to up coming major works; any proposed sale of the building; any notices that the management of the building or the estate is about to change).
• Asbestos Survey (if building has been built before 1999)
• Fire Risk Assessment
• Whether or not there has been any disputes regarding the Service Charge
• Whether there are any substantial works of maintenance anticipated within the next three years.
• Copies of any recent regulations imposed.
• Management Company – Memorandum and Articles of Association and minutes of the last AGM together with a copy of any share certificate that you may have.
• Consent from the landlord for any alterations you may have made to the leasehold property.
• Consent (if required by the Lease) of the Landlord to the Sale of the Leasehold Property.

You may save money by obtaining the information about the leasehold property directly from the landlord in advance. It may be prudent to ask your Conveyancer for a copy of the standard Landlord/Managing Agent enquiries so that you can get these completed by the landlord directly. Some Landlords are very slow in providing the information for the leasehold property and our Leasehold Conveyancers at iconvey report that this is the biggest cause of delay in a Leasehold Sale.

Disputes With the Landlord and/or Neighbours

Our experienced team of Leasehold Conveyancers at iconvey advise that if there are any disputes between you and the Landlord and/or Managing Agent, you ensure that these are settled before  you start marketing your leasehold Property. Any ongoing dispute is likely to make any buyer, their Conveyancers and their Lender very nervous about proceeding with the purchase of your leasehold Property. If there are any arrears of Service Charge or ground rent upon the leasehold property it should be paid off. Evidence that any dispute has been resolved will minimise any adverse impact that a dispute may have on the Buyer’s decision to purchase your leasehold Property.

Service Charge Retentions

It is common for Service Charge to be based on an estimate of the costs for the year ahead and at the end of the Service Charge year, there is a shortfall.  The Landlord of the leasehold property will then levy a ‘Balancing Charge’– this is a charge to cover the shortfall. The Buyer’s Conveyancer will want to ensure that their client is not paying Service Charge for the period of time in which you owned the flat. To avoid this, they will often require a retention, often of several hundred pounds. The retention is held by either the Buyers solicitor or the Sellers solicitor until the end of year or final Service Charge Accounts are published by the Landlord. If the final amount is the same as the Service Charge already paid and no further Service Charge is due, the retention is returned to you. If there is further Service Charge to pay upon the leasehold property this is taken from the retention with any remainder being returned to you. It is very common in the sale of Leaseholds Flats for the Buyer’s Conveyancer to insist on a Retention.

Do You Need Consent from Your Landlord to Sell Your Leasehold Flat?

It is not uncommon for there to be a term in the Lease that requires you to obtain consent from the Landlord to the sale of your leasehold flat. This is called a ‘Licence to Assign’.

If the terms of your Lease requires you to obtain the Landlord’s Consent, you must obtain this as soon as you put your leasehold flat on the Market. It is important to talk to your Conveyancer about this at the earliest opportunity. Failure to obtain the consent of the landlord is a very common source of delay in the sale of a Leasehold Property.

It is important to check with your landlord what their fee will be to provide a Licence to Assign and what their requirements are. Often the Landlord of the leasehold property will require you to have paid any arrears of Service Charge and will want references from the buyer. Let your Conveyancer know your landlord’s requirements at the earliest opportunity

Have You Carried Out Any Alterations to Your Leasehold Property?

As a general rule, any alterations to a Leasehold Flat, will require the Landlord’s consent. Alterations can range from the removal of walls (for example between the sitting room and dining room), the laying of laminate or wood flooring, installation of replacement windows/doors). If consent has not been obtained from the Landlord, the landlord may charge a fee for retrospective consent. Alterations without the written consent from the landlord of the leasehold property, constitute a breach of the Lease and are a serious issue. If you are a member of a residents management company that owns the Freehold, obtaining retrospective consent may not be difficult. If the building is owned by a separate Landlord, obtaining such consent may be more difficult and costly. 

Our Leasehold Conveyancers at iconvey advise that a faster and often less costly option is to offer to pay for the buyer to obtain indemnity insurance to protect them from the consequence of the landlo