I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my flat in Hope. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document 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 disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Hope.

Planning to complete next month on a leasehold property in Hope. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Hope should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Hope please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Hope

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Hope. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Hope who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Hope conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hope with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hope can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Hope levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover 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 frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hope.

Some Hope leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore important 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 premises on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £425000 garden flat in Hope on Tuesday in a week. The management company has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Hope?

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

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Hope
• 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 Hope leasehold property is £350. For Hope 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 provide answers.

I acquired a leasehold flat in Hope, conveyancing having been completed 1999. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Hope with a long lease are worth £190,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2095

With only 70 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Hope