I have recently realised that I have 62 years left on my lease in Lewes. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist would be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Lewes.

I am hoping to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Lewes. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Lewes should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Lewes. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Lewes who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Lewes conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Lewes where we see a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Lewes conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £175000 apartment in Lewes on Wednesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Lewes?

Lewes conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions the majority will be content to assist. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

Lewes Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the flat. Check with your bank that they are content with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. For most Leweslease extensions you would be be obliged to have been the owner of the property for a couple of years before you are legally able to carry out a lease extension. The answer will be helpful as a) areas could result in problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the managing agents you will need to have all the details Its a good idea to discover as much as possible regarding the company managing the building as they can either make your life much easier or uncomfortable. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Ask prospective neighbours what they think of them. In conclusion, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the managing agents and specifically what you get for your money.

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Lease Extensions in Lewes