I have recently realised that I have Seventy years left on my lease in Charmouth. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Charmouth.

I’m about to sell my garden flat in Charmouth.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a two flats in Charmouth both have about fifty years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Charmouth where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Charmouth conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser 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 before, or simultaneously with 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 buyer.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Charmouth conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Charmouth conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Charmouth conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Leasehold Conveyancing in Charmouth - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

How much is the yearly service fee and ground rent? Please note if it is less than 80 years it will affect the value of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are happy with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Charmouthlease extensions you will be required to have owned the property for a couple of years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. For many Charmouth leaseholds the outlay for major works tend not to be incorporated into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Charmouth ask leasehold owners to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Charmouth