I only have 72 years left on my lease in Hilton. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Hilton.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Hilton. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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 work for a busy estate agent office in Hilton where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hilton conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 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 simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Hilton conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Hilton conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Hilton conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions have they completed in Hilton in the last twenty four months?
• What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £ 150000 garden flat in Hilton in 8 days. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Hilton?

Hilton conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not requires the buyer’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be willing to assist. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

Hilton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Where a Hilton lease has less than 80 years it will affect the value of the property. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have been the owner of the residence for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease. Its a good idea to discover as much as you can concerning the company managing the block as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. As the owner of a leasehold property you are often in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical issues like the upkeep of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of them. In conclusion, find out the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending the funds. Is anyone aware of any major works in the near future that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs?