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29 May 2019 / Veronica Cowan
Issue: 7842 / Categories: Features , Property , Profession
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Going rogue on Bond Street?

Leasehold conveyancing: how rogue managing agents can cause delays. Veronica Cowan reports
  • The efficiency, or lack of it, by managing agents can have an impact on the conveyancing process, which can threaten a sale.

Property sellers are keen to get transactions concluded quickly and cheaply, but buying a leasehold property can be complicated and expensive. As well as the usual conveyancing forms, the purchaser’s solicitor seeks management information from the seller’s solicitor. This is usually supplied in the form of a standard management pack (known as replies to LPE1), which contains information which could be influential in the purchaser’s decision to proceed, or not. The efficiency, or lack of it, by managing agents can have an impact on the conveyancing process, which can threaten a sale.

Delays & fees

The Conveyancing Association’s solicitor and licensed conveyancer members, who collectively handle around 25% of residential property transactions in England and Wales, have reported delays in transacting leasehold sales. These include ascertaining the leaseholder’s fee for providing the pack, and in responses from the management company, despite the information sometimes being standard

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