I only have 68 years unexpired on my flat in Emersons Green. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission 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 prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations 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 investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Emersons Green.

Planning to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Emersons Green. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Are pets allowed in the flat?
• Whether the lease restricts you from letting 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 will change in the future
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I am looking at a two flats in Emersons Green both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Emersons Green is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. For most purchasers and banks, leases with under eighty 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 property 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 Emersons Green conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Emersons Green. 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 lessee 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. It is an essential part 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Emersons Green with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Emersons Green can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Emersons Green leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. If you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
• Some Emersons Green 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 put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Emersons Green home move. If a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if 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 advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I inherited a basement flat in Emersons Green, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Emersons Green with a long lease are worth £185,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2096

With only 70 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.