Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Brixworth. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Brixworth.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Brixworth. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Brixworth who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Brixworth conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Brixworth. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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 a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Brixworth where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Brixworth conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £150000 garden flat in Brixworth next week. The management company has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Brixworth?

Brixworth conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address such questions the majority will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Brixworth, conveyancing having been completed 8 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Brixworth with a long lease are worth £264,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2078

With only 53 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £31,400 and £36,200 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Brixworth