Selling a leasehold flat has one extra step a house sale does not, and it trips up more sales than anything else. The good news is that it is easy to stay ahead of.
You have found a buyer, agreed a price and instructed a solicitor. Then everything stops for weeks, and nobody can quite tell you why. For leasehold sales, the culprit is almost always the same document: the management pack.
It is one of the most common causes of delay in a flat sale, and one of the easiest to avoid. Here is what the pack is, why it takes time, and how to keep your sale moving.
What is a management pack?
When you sell a leasehold flat, the buyer’s solicitor needs detailed information about the building: what it costs to run, what is planned, and whether there are any problems. That information comes from the freeholder or the managing agent, not from you.
It is usually provided on a standard form called the LPE1, short for Leasehold Property Enquiries. The LPE1, together with the documents supplied alongside it, is what people mean by the management pack. You cannot usually complete it yourself, because you will not hold all the information, which is exactly why it depends on a third party.
What is in it
A management pack typically includes:
- Service charge accounts, usually for the last three years, plus the current budget
- Any planned major works and outstanding Section 20 consultation notices
- The buildings insurance details
- Ground rent: the amount, review dates and any arrears
- The reserve fund balance
- Any disputes or tribunal proceedings affecting the building
- Any notices served on the flat, such as a breach of the lease
Many agents also include fire safety and health and safety information. The buyer’s solicitor uses all of this to raise their enquiries, and without it they cannot move towards exchange.
Why does it take so long?
The honest answer is that you are relying on someone else’s timetable. The freeholder or managing agent has no contractual duty to prioritise your sale, and a busy agent may be handling packs for many buildings at once.
Gathering the information takes work, too. Accounts, insurance schedules, compliance records and any live works all have to be pulled together and set out correctly. Where a building is managed well, that information is already to hand. Where it is not, the pack drags.
How long, and how much?
Timescales vary widely. Commonly a pack takes somewhere between two and eight weeks, though a slow or poorly organised provider can take considerably longer. Cost also varies, but it is typically in the region of a few hundred pounds, often between £200 and £600.
One practical point worth knowing: a pack is generally treated as current for around six months. If your sale runs on beyond that, the buyer’s solicitor may ask for an updated one, which can mean a further fee.
The single best thing you can do
Order the pack early. Ideally the moment you decide to sell, before the flat is even listed, rather than waiting for a buyer’s solicitor to ask for it.
Sellers who have the pack in hand when an offer is accepted often complete weeks ahead of those who order it once conveyancing is under way. It is the simplest thing in your control, and it makes the biggest difference.
Speak to whoever handles your service charge and ground rent, tell them you are selling, and request the pack straight away. Instruct a solicitor with leasehold experience at the same time.
Is this changing?
It may do. The Leasehold and Freehold Reform Act 2024 includes measures intended to speed this process up, including a maximum time for freeholders and agents to respond and limits on the fees they can charge. These provisions are not yet in force, and depend on further regulations before they take effect. Until then, the position above is what sellers should plan around.
How Chelton Brown helps
Because we both manage blocks and sell homes, we see this from both sides. We know that a slow pack costs sellers weeks, so for the blocks we manage, we turn packs around promptly and keep the information ready rather than scrambling for it.
We have looked after property in Northamptonshire since 1975. If we manage your block and you are selling, we will get your pack moving quickly. And if you are choosing an agent for your building, responsiveness at moments like this is exactly the sort of thing worth asking about.
Selling a flat in a block we manage?
Get in touch and we will get your management pack under way. Call our block management team on 01604 603485. Choosing a managing agent for your building? We also offer a free, no obligation management review.
