5. Beware additional Leasehold Costs.
If you are selling a flat then it is likely that your Conveyancer will charge an additional fee to cover the extra work involved in the conveyance of a flat. However, it is also worthwhile bearing in mind that there are other fees that you may have to pay to the Freeholder of your building, which you may not have initial budgeted for.
When you sell a flat you will need to give to your buyers a pack of information relating to the service charges, ground rent, buildings insurance and usually confirmation of whether there are any major works planned to the building that might increase the service charge in the foreseeable future. Quite often the Freeholder will have a standard pack that provides all of this information. Either way they are likely to charge to provide the information to the Buyers.
It is usual practice for the Seller of a flat to pay for this information pack and the cost can vary from as little as £20 to in excess of £250.00. Sellers do not always realise that this cost will be payable, (particularly as most likely they didn’t pay it when they purchased the property), and may initially be reluctant to pay this cost as well. It is worthwhile noting that if a Seller refuses to pay this fee then the Buyer will have to pay it, which could lead to delays if both parties object to paying the fee.
Another cost that Sellers should check for is whether any transfer fees are payable. Some Leases will contain provisions that state that upon each sale of a property a fee equivalent to a percentage of the sale price be paid to the Freeholder. This fee could be anywhere from 0.1% or more of the sale price and depending on the value it is worthwhile checking your Deeds at the outset of the transaction to see whether such a fee is applicable to your sale. If it is then you will need to arrange to pay the same, (usually from the sale proceeds), and Sellers would need to budget accordingly.