I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my lease in Boroughbridge. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder 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 Boroughbridge.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Boroughbridge where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Boroughbridge conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Boroughbridge from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Boroughbridge can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Boroughbridge charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Boroughbridge.

We expect to complete the sale of our £475000 garden flat in Boroughbridge in nine days. The freeholder has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Boroughbridge?

Boroughbridge conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates the buyer’s lawyer sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address such questions the majority will be willing to do so. They are entitled levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to sell the property.

What are the common defects that you witness in leases for Boroughbridge properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Boroughbridge. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• 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

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, Virgin Money, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.

I invested in buying a basement flat in Boroughbridge, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Boroughbridge with a long lease are worth £225,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2085

With only 59 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £25,700 and £29,600 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Boroughbridge