I only have 62 years remaining on my lease in Farnham Common. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Farnham Common.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Farnham Common. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Does the lease prevent you from renting out the property, or working from home
• You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I own a leasehold house in Farnham Common. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Farnham Common who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Farnham Common conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Farnham Common where we see a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Farnham Common conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. 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 sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Farnham Common from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Farnham Common can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Farnham Common charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Farnham Common.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Farnham Common state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you dont have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
• Some Farnham Common leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any 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 lawyers.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Farnham Common home move. Where a reissued share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Farnham Common Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be included within service charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Farnham Common ask leasehold owners to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance. It would be prudent to discover as much as possible concerning the managing agents as they can either make living at the property much simpler or uncomfortable. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to every day matters like the tidiness of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask prospective neighbours if they are happy with their management. Finally, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the appropriate party and precisely how they are spending that money.