I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my lease in Llanarth. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If 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 extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Llanarth.

Expecting to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Llanarth. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
• Defining your legal entitlements in relation to the communal areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease grant a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
• Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or working from home
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Llanarth. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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 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).

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Llanarth conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Llanarth conveyancing firm) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you talk with two or three firms including non Llanarth conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How many lease extensions has the firm carried out in Llanarth in the last twenty four months?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Llanarth who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Llanarth from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Llanarth can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Some Llanarth leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Llanarth home move. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Llanarth Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Does the lease include onerous restrictions? Be sure to investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For example it is reasonably common in Llanarth leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Llanarth. If you love the apartmentin Llanarth however your cat is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be presented with a hard compromise.