I have recently realised that I have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Helsby. I need to get lease extension but my landlord 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 lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Helsby.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Helsby where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Helsby conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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 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 sale.

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 buyer.

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

When appointing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Helsby conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Helsby conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Helsby who can give a testimonial?
• What are the charges for lease extension work?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Helsby from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Helsby can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Helsby charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Helsby.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Helsby home move. Where a duplicate share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £ 325000 garden flat in Helsby on Friday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Helsby?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Helsby conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Helsby
• 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 Helsby leasehold premises is £350. For Helsby 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.

Helsby Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that will add a premium to the service charges?