I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my lease in Hengoed. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Hengoed.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold house in Hengoed. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage went though with no issue. 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 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Hengoed who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Hengoed conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Hengoed. Do I have any liability for 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 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hengoed from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hengoed can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Hengoed charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hengoed.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hengoed state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you fail to have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in advance.

A minority of Hengoed leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £200000 apartment in Hengoed next Thursday . The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Hengoed?

Hengoed conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically results in fees being raised by freeholders :

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

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

Hengoed Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Is the freehold owned jointly by the leaseholders? The answer will be useful as a) areas can result in problems for the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will need to know about it Make sure you find out if the the lease includes any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is fairly common in Hengoed leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Hengoed. If you like the propertyin Hengoed however your cat can’t live with you then you have a very difficult compromise.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hengoed