I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Chalfont St Giles.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice 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 tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Chalfont St Giles both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Chalfont St Giles is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with less than 75 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 property 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 Chalfont St Giles 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Chalfont St Giles. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 work for a long established estate agent office in Chalfont St Giles where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Chalfont St Giles conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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 extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £200000 flat in Chalfont St Giles next week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Chalfont St Giles?

Chalfont St Giles conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally requires the buyer’s lawyer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be content to assist. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I inherited a basement flat in Chalfont St Giles, conveyancing having been completed 3 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable flats in Chalfont St Giles with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The ground rent is £55 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2080

With just 55 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £27,600 and £31,800 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Chalfont St Giles