I only have 62 years remaining on my lease in Aylesbury. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Aylesbury.

I own a leasehold house in Aylesbury. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Aylesbury who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Aylesbury conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Aylesbury which have approximately 50 years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a busy estate agency in Aylesbury where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Aylesbury conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the purchaser.

What makes a Aylesbury lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Aylesbury. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Clydesdale all have very detailed requirements 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, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Aylesbury - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the tenants benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How is the lease structured? Make sure you enquire if the the lease includes any onerous restrictions in the lease. For instance plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in certain buildings in Aylesbury. If you love the flatin Aylesbury but your cat is not allowed to move with you then you will be presented with a difficult choice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Aylesbury