There are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Barrow upon Humber. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Barrow upon Humber.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Barrow upon Humber. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Barrow upon Humber should include some of the following:

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Barrow upon Humber please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Barrow upon Humber

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Barrow upon Humber. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Barrow upon Humber where we see a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Barrow upon Humber conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 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 disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £300000 flat in Barrow upon Humber in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £360 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Barrow upon Humber?

Barrow upon Humber conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times results in administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Barrow upon Humber
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Barrow upon Humber leasehold property is £350. For Barrow upon Humber 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 obliged to supply answers.

I inherited a basement flat in Barrow upon Humber, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Barrow upon Humber with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease ends on 21st October 2095

With 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £10,500 and £12,000 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Barrow upon Humber