I have recently realised that I have 68 years remaining on my flat in Eaton Bray. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Eaton Bray.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Eaton Bray both have about 50 years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Eaton Bray. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a busy estate agency in Eaton Bray where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Eaton Bray conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as 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. This means 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 prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Eaton Bray conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Eaton Bray 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 speak with several firms including non Eaton Bray conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• What are the charges for lease extension work?

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 450000 garden flat in Eaton Bray in 5 days. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Eaton Bray?

For most leasehold sales in Eaton Bray 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-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Eaton Bray
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Eaton Bray leasehold premises is £350. For Eaton Bray 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 obliged to provide the information.

Eaton Bray Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the block? Does the lease have in excess of 82 years remaining?