Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Harwich. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If 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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Harwich.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Harwich where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Harwich conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 can avoid having 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Harwich conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Harwich conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Harwich conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?
• How many lease extensions has the firm carried out in Harwich in the last year?

We expect to complete the sale of our £ 450000 flat in Harwich next week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Harwich?

Harwich conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions the majority will be willing to assist. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Harwich what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Harwich. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Harwich Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Does the lease include onerous restrictions? You should be aware if it is less than eighty years it will affect the value of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth finding out how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have been the owner of the premises for two years before you are entitled to extend the lease.