Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Dartmouth. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. 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. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Dartmouth.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Dartmouth. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Dartmouth should include some of the following:

• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Dartmouth.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Dartmouth. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Dartmouth where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Dartmouth conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Dartmouth - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

It would be a good idea to enquire if the the lease includes any onerous restrictions in the lease. For example plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Dartmouth. If you love the apartmentin Dartmouth but your cat is not allowed to move with you then you will be presented with a difficult decision. Please note if it is less than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. Check with your lender that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out what this will be. For most Dartmouthlease extensions you would be required to have owned the premises for 24 months in order to be eligible to extend the lease. It is important to be aware whether fixing the lift or some other major work is pending to be shared by the leasehold owners and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or result in a one off payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Dartmouth