There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Cottesmore. I need to extend my lease 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 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 Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Cottesmore.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Cottesmore. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Cottesmore should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the property, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Cottesmore please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Cottesmore

I am looking at a couple of flats in Cottesmore both have approximately forty five years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Cottesmore is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. 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 property 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 premises 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 Cottesmore conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Cottesmore from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cottesmore can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Cottesmore levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cottesmore.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Cottesmore home move. If a new share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £325000 maisonette in Cottesmore next Friday . The managing agents has quoted £300 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 flat conveyance in Cottesmore?

For most leasehold sales in Cottesmore conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Cottesmore
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Cottesmore leasehold property is £350. For Cottesmore 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 required to supply the information.

Cottesmore Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the leaseholders have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. On the whole the cost for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Cottesmore ask leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. It is important to be aware whether a new roof is being installed or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared amongst the tenants and may well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or result in a one off payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Cottesmore