Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years left on my lease in Llandudno. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Llandudno.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to tick a lot of boxes, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Llandudno. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Llandudno are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Llandudno so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Llandudno conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I work for a reputable estate agency in Llandudno where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Llandudno conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Llandudno from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Llandudno can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Llandudno charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Llandudno.

Some Llandudno leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain 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 essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage 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.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £375000 garden flat in Llandudno next Thursday . The freeholder has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Llandudno?

Llandudno conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

• Answering pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Llandudno
• 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 Llandudno leasehold property is £350. For Llandudno 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 required to provide answers.

I inherited a split level flat in Llandudno, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding properties in Llandudno with a long lease are worth £261,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2095

You have 74 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Llandudno