I only have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Belvedere. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Belvedere.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Belvedere. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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).

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Belvedere conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Belvedere conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Belvedere conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• What volume of lease extensions have they conducted in Belvedere in the last 12 months?

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Belvedere from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Belvedere can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Belvedere leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you dont have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Belvedere conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 350000 maisonette in Belvedere in seven days. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Belvedere?

Belvedere conveyancing on leasehold apartments often involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be willing to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

Despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Belvedere. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Belvedere conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Belvedere premises 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 was in relation to 13 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Belvedere, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in Belvedere with over 90 years remaining are worth £206,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2081

You have 55 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to span between £27,600 and £31,800 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.