There are only Fifty years remaining on my flat in Boscastle. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search 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 in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Boscastle.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Boscastle. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 agent office in Boscastle where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Boscastle conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

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 purchaser.

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

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Boscastle can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Boscastle levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Boscastle.

Some Boscastle leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Boscastle home move. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £375000 flat in Boscastle in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Boscastle?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Boscastle conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Boscastle
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Boscastle leasehold premises is £350. For Boscastle 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 provide answers.

I acquired a studio flat in Boscastle, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Similar properties in Boscastle with over 90 years remaining are worth £173,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2080

You have 55 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £28,500 and £33,000 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Boscastle