Sale of a leasehold registered residential property

Our fees cover all of the standard work required to complete the sale of the property, including dealing with the preparation of the contract paperwork, obtaining seller’s pack from landlord and/or management company, dealing with enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors, attending to exchange of contracts and completion.

Our range of fees

Anticipated disbursements

These are payments which are additional costs that are payable to third parties.

The disbursements you may have to pay are:

• Fee for official copies of title – £10.20 (including VAT) for title entries, plan and Lease only – per title
• Fees for any missing documents (e.g. planning permissions, other title documents held by the Land Registry, certificates for works carried out, etc.) you do not hold – the fees vary and range from £3 to £50.

• Fees for a Sale or Leasehold Sale Pack required from the landlord and/or management company – these can be between £150 and £750 (please note a separate pack may be required for both Ground Rent and Service Charges if they are collected by different companies). You can request details of the price of a pack from the entity to which you pay the ground rent and/or service charge.

We handle the payment of the disbursements on your behalf to ensure a smoother process.

Stages of the process

The precise stages involved in the sale of a leasehold registered residential property vary according to the circumstances. However, below are the key stages generally included in the fees quoted for standard work:

• Taking  instructions and giving initial advice
• Forwarding Sellers Property Information Form, Leasehold Information Form and Fittings and Contents Form to you for completion
• Applying to the leasehold and/or management company for Sale Pack – please note there may be separate packs for ground rent and service charges
• Checking registered title, preparing contract paperwork
• Forwarding contract pack to the buyer’s solicitors
• Obtaining your replies to enquiries raised by the buyer’s solicitors and assisting with replies where necessary
• Assisting you with obtaining copies of any standard planning or further documentation (if required)
• Obtaining a redemption statement for any current mortgage (if any)
• Sending final contract to you for signature or seeing you in person
• Approving and/or amending Transfer paperwork and obtaining signatures
• Corresponding with buyer’s solicitors regarding completion date (date from which you will have to vacate)
• Obtaining any up to date redemption statement (if any)
• Exchanging contracts and notifying you that this has happened
• Agreeing any apportionments of ground rent and service charges with buyer’s solicitors
• Completing sale
• Dealing with repayment of mortgage (if any) and selling agent’s fees
• Accounting to you for any balance

Standard work does not include preparation of any epitome of title for unregistered land; additional work in relation to any existing tenancy including information on deposits, statements of rent and apportionment of rental income; obtaining any missing documents; new build properties; shared ownership sales; staircasing; varying terms of the Lease; any work to extend the Lease, approve any Lease extension or grant of a new Lease; dealing with any retention; sale by a company; auction repossessions; any additional mortgages, charging orders, Islamic mortgages or equitable loans registered against the title; any commercial mortgage or mortgage from a limited company; dealing with any solicitors acting on behalf of the buyer’s lender; dealing with retentions; any unforeseen matters or complexity such as, but not limited to, deeds of covenant or compliance with rent charges, listed buildings, more than one piece of land or title, compliance with restrictions on the register; resolving or suggesting ways to resolve any title defect including arranging any indemnity insurance policy, dealing with any shares in leasehold or management company for common facilities, preparing or approving a statutory declaration, and any other unusual features.

This is not an exhaustive list and does not include all possible exclusions. Examples of additional fees for common items of non-standard work are listed here.

Standard work assumes all parties are co-operative and there is no unreasonable delay from third parties.

How long will my sale take?

How long it will take from when you have accepted an offer until the sale completes will depend on a number of factors. The average process takes between 10 and 20 weeks, but this will very much depend on any chain and is for information purposes. However, it can be quicker or slower and will be affected by matters outside our control. For example, the matter may be prolonged if a buyer needs a mortgage while the lender’s survey is carried out, or if the Lease needs to be extended. Every party in the chain will need to agree a completion date. Please let us know if you have any specific time requirements and we will do our best to achieve this.