Deed of Variation for Residential Lease

See legal services for lease extensions for what we say about lease ‘variations’ that involve any increase in the term of the original lease or the extent of the land included (these are not really variation, but regrants).

There are ‘true’ variations of leases that do not have the consequences as those referred to, however, including instances of:

• decrease in the term of the original lease
• decrease in the extent of the land included
• Adding clauses to the lease, such as required for lender protection
• Altering clauses in the lease such as rent changes or the correction of errors
• Removing superfluous material from the lease if necessary, e.g. options

Included in this service is communicating with the landlord, tenant, and any lender about the deeds agreed, then drafting and finalising those deeds. We do not actually negotiate the terms – we expect those to have been agreed in principle before our involvement. In taking instructions we are going to be particularly interested in whether:

1. your title is registered
2. you have a mortgage
3. the level of co-operation between those involved, e.g. has the price been agreed between you already? Is the Landlord expecting the tenant to provide their legal work, or will they expect you to pay their lawyers (and, if so, how much)? Is there a management company?

Once the deeds are prepared, we will register them at the Land Registry.

We don’t generally do anything for new clients until our process of client retention has concluded – this involves agreeing the scope of what we are doing for the price (our terms are below), setting-up our client record (that includes ID checks), and producing the bill (payment in advance is required for all new clients).

This job is a complex multi-stage process, with numerous third-party dependencies. Although only a few hours’ total legal work is normally required, the dependencies mean that these engagements frequently take several months to complete, ready for registration.

The time HM Land Registry take to process such a registration varies greatly, depending on how busy they are. Some applications are processed very quickly, up to “next day”; however, most applications appear to languish awaiting HM Land Registry attention; in late 2023 many applications were taking about 6 months to be registered – and some types of application can take even longer than that, unfortunately. However, once submitted HM Land Registry process applications on any title in order of submission – so their delay ought not to affect the priority of your application relative to other matters on that title.

Your supplier is SRA-regulated Mounteney Solicitors Ltd, that charges VAT some customers may be able to reclaim

No mortgage we charge: £500 + VAT = £600

With mortgage we charge: £700 + VAT = £840

Plus, the Land Registry fee (£45)

There is more about our fees on our website here

If you have any questions or require any further information, please don’t hesitate to Contact Us