I only have Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Babbacombe. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

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 enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Babbacombe.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Babbacombe.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Babbacombe. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Babbacombe who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Babbacombe conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Babbacombe which have approximately fifty years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Babbacombe is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Babbacombe conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Babbacombe from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Babbacombe can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Babbacombe leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.

I invested in buying a garden flat in Babbacombe, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Equivalent properties in Babbacombe with over 90 years remaining are worth £216,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2096

With only 72 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Babbacombe