Most flats are "leasehold". This means you own a lease allowing you to live in the property and your landlord, or the freeholder, owns the building and common parts (the "freehold").
Some leaseholders also have a share of the freehold. This means the owners of the leases also part-own the freehold.
How it works
selling
Title investigation: your solicitor will ask you questions about your property, investigate the title and prepare draft contract papers to deliver to your buyer.
Enquiries: your buyer's solicitor will review the draft contract papers and contact your solicitor with any additional enquiries they wish to raise. Your solicitor will advise you on your answers to these enquiries.
Exchange of contracts: once you and your buyer are ready to go ahead your solicitor will arrange exchange of contracts. After you have exchanged you will have a completion date and you will not be able to withdraw from the sale without financial penalties.
Completion: on completion day we will deal with redemption of any mortgage, send you the sale proceeds and your buyer will take over the property.
buying
Title investigation: your solicitor will review draft contract papers and other information about the property prepared by the seller's solicitor.
Searches: your solicitor will order searches to get more information about the property and will take account of comments made in surveys prepared by your surveyor or your lender's valuer.
Lender's instructions: if you are taking out a mortgage your solicitor will review your lender’s instructions and report to you on the basic terms of your new mortgage.
Raising enquiries: your solicitor will query any points missing from the draft contract papers or matters of concern to you or your lender.
Reporting: your solicitor will send you a report summarising the results of their investigations, and ask you if you are happy to go ahead with your purchase.
Exchange of contracts: when you are ready to go ahead your solicitor will arrange exchange of contracts. After you have exchanged you will have a completion date and you will not be able to withdraw from the purchase without financial penalties.
Completion: on completion day we will formally complete the purchase and you will be able to go and collect the keys to your new place.
Registration: we will register your purchase at Land Registry and provide you with copies of the updated title documents as soon as they are available.
Benefits of instructing Julie West Solicitors
Every lease is different. Your property specialist must be able to ensure that all of the legal rights and obligation you need are in place.
Leases are a wasting asset. As time passes the length of the term of the lease reduces and the value of the property drops. If the remaining terms is between 80 - 100 years you should consider a lease extension to increase the term.
A proactive solicitor will make a huge difference to the pace and your experience of the transaction - especially when it comes to leasehold properties and the co-ordination of third parties, estate agents, the landlord, managing agents and more.
“Answered the phone and were helpful straight away”
Timescale
We normally expect your sale or purchase to complete within 3 months.
But the overall timescale in a chain of transactions is likely to be out of your control. You can help by providing information promptly and co-operating with us to resolve problems.
Time and again our clients tell us that they really appreciate JWS giving realistic timescales from the start, plus clear updates on progress throughout. We always make sure you know exactly what is going on and will do our best to mak progress on your behalf.
Cost
In legal work you usually get what you pay for. Your property can easily be the most valuable asset you own. We believe our fees are a realistic price for doing a proper job.
Fee list
Payments to third parties (disbursements)
Selling
Leasehold information pack: £400
Title information: £18 (£3 per document)
Buying
Searches: £350 - £500 depending on location
Stamp duty land tax: use gov.uk calculator here
Notice fees for transfer and charge: £125 each
Land Registry fee for registration: £20 - £500
Pre-completion bankruptcy and priority searches: £12
Additional
Electronic ID checks per individual: £6
“We both felt comfortable with all the staff and the lengths taken to make us aware of what was happening.”
Law Society Conveyancing Quality Scheme (CQS)
Our specialist solicitors are accredited under CQS. The Law Society launched the CQS scheme to help consumers make an informed decision about who to instruct to assist them with residential property work.
The primary aim of the scheme is to help the public avoid advisers that are unregulated, uninsured and untrained. The scheme is also used as a badge of trust, relied upon by lenders as well as other accredited firms.
Achieving the CQS accreditation shows that we follow best practice procedures to meet the highest standards of technical expertise and service helping clients with property work.