There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Ardleigh Green. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order 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 or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Ardleigh Green.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Ardleigh Green.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in Ardleigh Green. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Ardleigh Green are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Ardleigh Green so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Ardleigh Green conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in transacting on 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 to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer should appraise you on the various issues.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Ardleigh Green where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Ardleigh Green conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate 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 sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Ardleigh Green levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ardleigh Green.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Ardleigh Green leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in advance.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Ardleigh Green home move. If a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise 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 requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Having spent months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Ardleigh Green. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Ardleigh Green conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Ardleigh Green residence is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 57.5 years.

I own a basement flat in Ardleigh Green, conveyancing was carried out in 2001. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable flats in Ardleigh Green with a long lease are worth £261,000. The ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2081

With only 55 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £28,500 and £33,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should 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 you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.