There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Gosforth. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Gosforth.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Gosforth. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Setting out your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Gosforth. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Gosforth who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Gosforth conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two flats in Gosforth which have approximately fifty years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Gosforth is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. For most purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat 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 a residence 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 Gosforth 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Gosforth. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, 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).

Leasehold Conveyancing in Gosforth - Sample of Queries before buying

Its a good idea to discover as much as you can about the company managing the block as they will either make life much simpler or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day issues such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of prospective neighbours if they are happy with their management. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the appropriate party and precisely what it includes. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments? Is there a share of the freehold?

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Lease Extensions in Gosforth