Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Frinton On Sea. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Frinton On Sea.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Frinton On Sea. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Frinton On Sea who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Frinton On Sea conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Frinton On Sea which have approximately 50 years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a long established estate agency in Frinton On Sea where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Frinton On Sea conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 prior to, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

We expect to complete our sale of a £400000 garden flat in Frinton On Sea on Monday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Frinton On Sea?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Frinton On Sea conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

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

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Frinton On Sea leasehold premises is £350. For Frinton On Sea 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.

Frinton On Sea Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

The majority of Frinton On Sea leasehold flats will have a service bill for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the management company. Should you purchase the flat you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically accross the year. This could be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met annual, this is usually not a large amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. Best to be warned whether fixing the lift or some other significant cost is due in the foreseeable future to be shared between the leasehold owners and will materially increase the the maintenance charges or require a one off invoice. Does the lease include onerous restrictions?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Frinton On Sea