Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Barnes Cray. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

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 demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Barnes Cray.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Barnes Cray. Conveyancing and Britannia mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Barnes Cray who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Barnes Cray conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Barnes Cray both have about fifty years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Barnes Cray where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Barnes Cray conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £500000 garden flat in Barnes Cray in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Barnes Cray?

Barnes Cray conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are at liberty charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can I make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Barnes Cray conveyancing firm to represent me?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Barnes Cray flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.