I have recently realised that I have 72 years left on my flat in Dunmow. I need to get lease extension but my landlord 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 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 Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Dunmow.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Dunmow which have about forty five years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Dunmow. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Dunmow conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Dunmow conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you talk with two or three firms including non Dunmow conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Dunmow who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Dunmow can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Dunmow leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• A minority of Dunmow leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 buyers or their solicitors.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Dunmow conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important 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 premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £ 450000 garden flat in Dunmow in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Dunmow?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Dunmow
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Dunmow leasehold property is £350. For Dunmow 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 provide answers.

I bought a garden flat in Dunmow, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar properties in Dunmow with an extended lease are worth £232,000. The ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2101

With 75 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.