In January leasehold property and freehold management enquiry forms set to change

Chris Macartney, Partner and joint Head of the Landlord and Tenant team at Bishop & Sewell.

Conveyancing, property management and surveying sector trade bodies have collaborated to produce new and updated versions of the leasehold information, freehold management and consumer summary forms that are completed during the sales process, writes Chris Macartney, Partner and joint Head of the Landlord and Tenant team at solicitors Bishop & Sewell.

The new LPE1 (leasehold property enquiries), LPE2 (consumer summary) and FME1 (freehold management enquiries) forms will be put into use from January 11, 2022.

Thirteen trade bodies including the Law Society, Conveyancing Association, the Society of Licensed Conveyancers, the Association of Residential Managing Agents, the Association of Retirement Housing Managers, the British Property Federation, the Institute of Residential Property Management, the Right to Manage Federation and ARLA are all encouraging their members to use the forms from the launch date.

The forms now include the unique property reference number (UPRN) with updated fields in the PDFs.

The Law Society explains here that these versions of the forms ask administrators whether they can accept notice served by email and receive the payments via the banking system to make the process more efficient.

This is the third version of the LPE1 form with a number of new additional questions and amendments made.

For example, it establishes whether there are any restrictions on keeping pets or parking.

The form also asks whether a fire safety or an external fire wall assessment has been carried out and whether there are urgent works required as a result.

It is hoped this will allow those marketing the property to identify material facts around cladding more easily.

A portal to access external wall system reviews has been created by the Fire Institute Association: the Building Safety Portal.

The freehold management enquiries (FME1) form is on its second version and contains a number of additional questions including who deals with the deed of covenant, on contributions to the service charge and access to insurance.

The forms can be downloaded for free from the trade bodies’ websites and are also available via the law firm stationers from today so that any systems using or pre-populating the forms can be updated in time.

Reported here, Nigel Glen, ARMA chief executive said: “We are pleased with the comprehensive additions to the forms, in particular the addition of the (usually belated and highly emotive) matter of pets and the LPE1’s request for information on building safety. “We hope the latter will help towards freeing up leaseholders to sell on properties where the fire risk is minimal. We also welcome the addition of the UPRN field as a means of encouraging its adoption across the residential building stock, the benefits of which have long been known.”

At Bishop & Sewell, we have more than 40 years’ experience in property with a particular focus on Landlord & Tenant. If you are thinking of buying a leasehold property, or if you already own a leasehold property and you have a question about obtaining a consent to alterations that you are planning, please call 020 7631 4141 and ask for a member of the Property team, or email [email protected]

About Bishop & Sewell LLP
Bishop & Sewell is a long-established, full service Central London law firm – with an international reach – specialising in Personal, Property and Commercial legal matters. To learn more, visit www.bishopandsewell.co.uk