If you are selling a leasehold property you need to speak to the people who deal with your Ground Rent & Service Charges about your sale and request that they provide the Leasehold Management Pack (LPE1) as soon as possible.
Ordering Leasehold Management Pack
You should pay for the Leasehold Management Pack as soon as a buyer is found. If a pack is 6 months old an updated pack is going to be requested by the buyer’s solicitor. You will need to be organised and pro-active here. The Managing Agent, Management Company or Freeholder will charge for the pack(s). Unfortunately an administration fee of £300, or more per pack, is likely. Some Leasehold Management Packs can take more than 3 months to arrive. It depends on the provider. There are Management Companies who are notoriously slow and difficult to deal with.
There May be 2 Packs
Often there is a Leasehold Management Pack for Ground Rent and another Leasehold Management Pack for Service Charges. This happens where Ground Rent and Service Charges are collected by different parties.
Why Are They Needed
Your Buyer’s Conveyancer will NOT be able to proceed without the Leasehold Management Pack(s) because of due-diligence and compliance requirements. Their hands are tied and they cannot move forward without checking the pack(s) and reporting to the buyer (and lender) on the leasehold management. The point of the pack is to ensure that the Freeholder or Management Company are managing effectively.
The Buyer's Conveyancer reviews the pack(s) to check the building is appropriately managed and is good security for the buyer and lender. They will be looking for arrears and future expensive major works and so on. Any concerns are referred to the buyer and their mortgage lender to take a view upon. Some mortgage lenders are very strict on what they will accept with leasehold properties.
Not obtaining the pack(s) aa soon as possible away will delay your sale. Sadly, Leasehold Management Packs are a necessary and expensive evil in Leasehold sales.
NB: If you are the Freeholder, or one of the Freeholders, you may want to instruct an expert to assist you in preparing the pack. An Agent or a Conveyancer can do with this. I also offer this service for a fee. Please feel free to get in touch.
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