Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Grays. I need to extend my lease but my landlord 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 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 done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Grays.

Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Grays. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Defining your legal entitlements in respect of common areas in the building.For instance, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or hallways?

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Grays please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Grays

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Grays. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Grays ?

The majority of houses in Grays are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Grays so you should seriously consider looking for a Grays conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the landlord’spermission to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer should advise you fully on all the issues.

Back In 2009, I bought a leasehold house in Grays. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Grays who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Grays conveyancing firm 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 freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

We expect to complete our sale of a £150000 flat in Grays next Tuesday . 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 leasehold conveyance in Grays?

Grays conveyancing on leasehold flats typically involves administration charges levied by management companies :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Grays
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Grays leasehold premises is £350. For Grays 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 supply answers.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in Grays. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for a lease extension?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Grays conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Grays property is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case related to 13 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 76 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Grays