There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Gilberdyke. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Gilberdyke.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Gilberdyke. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Gilberdyke who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Gilberdyke conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Gilberdyke which have about 50 years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Gilberdyke. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Gilberdyke. 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 long established estate agency in Gilberdyke where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Gilberdyke conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

I inherited a split level flat in Gilberdyke, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent flats in Gilberdyke with over 90 years remaining are worth £244,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2085

With only 59 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £22,800 and £26,400 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.