I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my lease in Great Yarmouth. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If 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 extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Great Yarmouth.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Great Yarmouth which have in the region of forty five years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Great Yarmouth. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Great Yarmouth. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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 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 employed by a reputable estate agent office in Great Yarmouth where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Great Yarmouth conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

Are there frequently found defects that you witness in leases for Great Yarmouth properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Great Yarmouth. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Great Yarmouth Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the leaseholders? If a Great Yarmouth lease has less than eighty years it will impact the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering what this would cost. For most Great Yarmouthlease extensions you would need to own the residence for 24 months before you are legally able to carry out a lease extension. What is the service charge and ground rent on the apartment?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Great Yarmouth