Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years left on my lease in Canford Cliffs. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Canford Cliffs.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Canford Cliffs. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Canford Cliffs who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Canford Cliffs conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Canford Cliffs where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Canford Cliffs conveyancing firms. 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?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 prior to, 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 buyer.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £475000 flat in Canford Cliffs in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Canford Cliffs?

Canford Cliffs conveyancing on leasehold flats often involves the buyer’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

What makes a Canford Cliffs lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Canford Cliffs. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• 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 will have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions 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, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Canford Cliffs - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Is anyone aware of any major works in the near future that could increase the service costs? It is important to be aware whether a new roof is being installed or some other significant cost is due in the foreseeable future to be shared amongst the leaseholders and could well materially impact the level of the maintenance fees or result in a specific payment. The answer will be important as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the common areas may start to deteriorate where services are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the managing agents you will want to have full disclosure

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Lease Extensions in Canford Cliffs