I have recently realised that I have 68 years left on my flat in Huntingdon. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Huntingdon.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Huntingdon. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the property itself but might include a roof space or basement if appropriate.

You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease

Repair and maintenance of the flat

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.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

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

What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Huntingdon please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Huntingdon

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Huntingdon. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation 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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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 am employed by a busy estate agent office in Huntingdon where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Huntingdon conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer need not have 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £425000 flat in Huntingdon in seven days. The management company has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Huntingdon?

Huntingdon conveyancing on leasehold apartments typically results in administration charges invoiced by management companies :

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Huntingdon
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Huntingdon leasehold property is £350. For Huntingdon 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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Huntingdon - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

The best form of lease structure is where the freehold title is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the lessees have being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Best to be warned if changing the roof or some other major work is due shortly that will be shared by the tenants and will materially impact the level of the maintenance charges or result in a specific invoice. Many Huntingdon leasehold flats will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you purchase the property you will have to meet this liability, usually quarterly throughout the year. This may differ from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, this is usually not a significant amount, say approximately £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Huntingdon