I have recently realised that I have 72 years unexpired on my flat in Canvey Island. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be helpful 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 property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Canvey Island.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Canvey Island.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Canvey Island which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Canvey Island is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Canvey Island conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

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

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Canvey Island can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Canvey Island charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought 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 usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Canvey Island.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Canvey Island conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £425000 flat in Canvey Island in 10 days. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Canvey Island?

Canvey Island conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally results in administration charges raised by landlords agents :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Canvey Island
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Canvey Island leasehold premises is £350. For Canvey Island 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 supply answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Canvey Island - A selection of Queries before buying

Does the lease include onerous restrictions? Make sure you enquire if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance some leases prohibit pets being permitted in certain buildings in Canvey Island. If you love the apartmentin Canvey Island however your dog can’t make the move with you then you will be faced hard decision. In the main the outlay for major works tend not to be included within service charges, although a few managing agents in Canvey Island ask leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Canvey Island