Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years left on my flat in Derby. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Derby.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Derby.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 unless 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Derby where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Derby conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Derby conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Derby conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Derby conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Derby in the last year?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Derby who can give a testimonial?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Derby from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Derby can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• A minority of Derby leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Derby home move. If a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Derby, conveyancing formalities finalised 6 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Derby with over 90 years remaining are worth £168,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2094

You have 68 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.