Leasehold Extensions - Solicitors Fees

tmulloy

Hi,

I have applied to my local council for a 90 year leasehold extension to my property. which has been agreed and the fee accepted by me.
I have started the process and have already paid the council for survey and legal fees and have been told I need to instruct a solicitor to register the details with Land registry.
How much should I expect to pay a solicitor to just add the new 90 year lease to Land registry
I had a few quotes and they seem very high just to carry out a lease extension

Many thanks
Tom

amylan

It sounds like you don't require your solicitor to do any of the preliminary work involved in a lease extension (i.e. assessing qualifying criteria, serving s42 notice  and dealing with counternotices etc.). On that basis your solicitor would just be reviewing and negotiating the new lease, therefore would expect fees to be £700-£1000. Do make sure they are aware that the initial stages have all been completed and it may bring pricing down somewhat.

tmulloy

Thanks Amylan,
So the next question is, do I need a solicitor at all?
If I get permission from my mortgage lender (The charge on the register....I doubt they will contest as I am securing value to the property).
I have also sent an up to date proof copy of the register title from HM Land registry to my councils conveyancer.
Do I now just need to complete an AP1 form to change the register with supporting documents (i.e. The new lease issued by the freeholder and permission from my bank) to HM Land Registry?

Am i missing anything else here? Is it that straight forward
Many thanks

eddddy

It sounds like you've negotiated an 'informal' lease extension, so I suspect that your bank will insist that you use a solicitor.

They will want the solicitor to check that you're not agreeing to any onerous terms as part of the lease extension. (Out of interest, what Ground Rent terms have you agreed to? Hopefully, you've agreed that it reduces to zero.)

The bank will probably also require a 'Deed of Substituted Security', which will be an extra chunk of work for your solicitor.

davidmcn

tmulloy said:

If I get permission from my mortgage lender (The charge on the register....I doubt they will contest as I am securing value to the property).

But the point is they won't know what you're doing to the Lease without their solicitor advising them.

tmulloy

eddddy - Yes, is is an informal lease extension, the local council have valued the extension fairly and I'm happy to accept.
house value is £230,000 with 88 years left - The lease extension offer was £3100 and the ground rent will be reduced to £1 P/A

Davidmcn - Surely when I get a copy of the new lease extension (before signing and paying for) I can forward this to the bank to agree. It is not just simply extending the years to the same leasehold contract I already have?

NameUnavailable

tmulloy said:

eddddy - Yes, is is an informal lease extension, the local council have valued the extension fairly and I'm happy to accept.
house value is £230,000 with 88 years left - The lease extension offer was £3100 and the ground rent will be reduced to £1 P/A

Davidmcn - Surely when I get a copy of the new lease extension (before signing and paying for) I can forward this to the bank to agree. It is not just simply extending the years to the same leasehold contract I already have?

Who at the bank will be legally qualified to make a decision as to whether the documents are satisfactory? I don't think most bank admin staff have legal qualifications otherwise they'd be working as solicitors/lawyers themselves.

tmulloy

Thanks for the above response, I have sent a letter to my bank for tuem to approve and will follow their lead.
I just have read (from HMLR) that it's not always necessary to appoint a solicitor for these kond of changes to the register. 
My case seems pretty straight forward