There are only 68 years unexpired on my flat in Biddulph. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

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 lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Biddulph.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Biddulph where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Biddulph conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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. 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Biddulph conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Biddulph conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you make enquires with several firms including non Biddulph conveyancing practices before you 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 what is the reason?

What are the charges for lease extension work?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Biddulph from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Biddulph can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Biddulph leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Biddulph home move. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £425000 garden flat in Biddulph next week. The managing agents has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Biddulph?

Biddulph conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Biddulph
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Biddulph leasehold property is £350. For Biddulph 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 provide the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Biddulph - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Be sure to discover if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example it is very common in Biddulph leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Biddulph. If you love the propertyin Biddulph but your cat can’t live with you then you will be faced difficult decision. In the main the outlay for major works tend not to be built into the maintenance charges, albeit that some managing agents in Biddulph require tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Biddulph