Sale Conditions

Leases have one or more of 3 assignment (sale) conditions that must be complied with during the conveyancing process. These conditions not only allow the freeholders and managing parties of blocks of flats to keep track of who the individual leaseholders are but they enable them to continue to collect ground rent and service charges smoothly and without interruption.

 1) Prior Written Consent

A typical lease will require that the sale or mortgage of a flat cannot take place without the prior written consent of the landlord, consent that must be obtained before completion. A lender will not accept restrictions that either absolutely prohibit (do not allow) assignment or mortgage of the lease, or else require consent to assignment or mortgage, (unless consent cannot be unreasonably withheld). Therefore this is often ignored but the assignment usually remains legally valid.

2) Deed of Covenant

Sometimes a lease will require a Deed of Covenant which is a document the buyer signs agreeing to obey all the original lease terms on completion of the sale and through the duration of ownership. This creates a contract that compels the buyer to provide his details as the new leaseholder and enables the registration of the purchase to proceed at the Land Registry.

3) Registering The Assignment

This part of the lease requires the freeholder be notified of a sale of the lease within 28 days of the sale by the buyers conveyancer. This particular clause appears in many older leases ( I have such a clause in mine) but the CML Handbook also states 'whether or not required by the lease, the conveyancer must serve notice on the landlord (or management company) of the assignment of the lease to include details of the new mortgage, name and address of lender, and the mortgage account number'.