Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Exmouth. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Exmouth.

Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Exmouth. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Exmouth which have approximately fifty years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Exmouth. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Exmouth. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 reputable estate agent office in Exmouth where we see a number of flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Exmouth conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is 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 needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

I purchased a studio flat in Exmouth, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Exmouth with over 90 years remaining are worth £226,000. The ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2095

With only 72 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Exmouth