I only have 68 years remaining on my flat in Abingdon. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Abingdon.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Abingdon conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Abingdon conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Abingdon conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Abingdon from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Abingdon can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Abingdon charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Abingdon.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Abingdon state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such works. Where you dont have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £175000 apartment in Abingdon on Tuesday in a week. The management company has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Abingdon?

Abingdon conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally involves administration charges levied by freeholders :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Abingdon
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Abingdon leasehold property is £350. For Abingdon conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply answers.

Are there common defects that you see in leases for Abingdon properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Abingdon is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, and Britannia all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Abingdon Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

What restrictions are there in the Abingdon Lease? This information is useful as a) areas may result in problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where repairs are not paid for b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to know about it What is the annual service fee and ground rent?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Abingdon