I only have 62 years left on my flat in Aldborough Hatch. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If 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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Aldborough Hatch.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Aldborough Hatch. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before 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. 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).

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Aldborough Hatch where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Aldborough Hatch conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Aldborough Hatch who can give a testimonial?

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 200000 maisonette in Aldborough Hatch on Wednesday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Aldborough Hatch?

Aldborough Hatch conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the buyer’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries most will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

I have had difficulty in negotiating a lease extension in Aldborough Hatch. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Aldborough Hatch flat is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 61.36 years.

Aldborough Hatch Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the tenants have control and although a managing agent is usually retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.