I have recently realised that I have Fifty years remaining on my lease in Belgravia. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

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 granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Belgravia.

Due to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Belgravia. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Belgravia should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

The physical extent of the property. This will be the property itself but could also include a roof space or basement if appropriate.

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Belgravia please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Belgravia

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Belgravia both have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Belgravia is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 premises 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 Belgravia 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 You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Belgravia. 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 owner 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).

Completion in due on the sale of our £250000 flat in Belgravia in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Belgravia?

Belgravia conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times involves administration charges levied by freeholders :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Belgravia
• 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 Belgravia leasehold premises is £350. For Belgravia 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.

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

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Belgravia residence is Flat 3 47 Cadogan Square in December 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable to the landord by the leaseholder for the lease extension was £732,935 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 13.33 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Belgravia