I only have Sixty One years left on my lease in Barkingside. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. 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 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 prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Barkingside.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Barkingside.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge the invoice 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 am attracted to a two apartments in Barkingside both have in the region of forty five years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Barkingside is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. For most buyers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Barkingside conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Barkingside charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Barkingside leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.

If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Barkingside conveyancing transaction. If a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £400000 maisonette in Barkingside in 5 days. The managing agents has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Barkingside?

For most leasehold sales in Barkingside conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Barkingside
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Barkingside leasehold property is £350. For Barkingside 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 obliged to supply answers.

My wife and I have hit a brick wall in trying to purchase the freehold in Barkingside. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Barkingside property is 104 Coventry Road in July 2014. The Tribunal determined that the lease extension permium should be £22,896.15 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 60.29 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Barkingside