I only have 68 years remaining on my flat in Bermondsey. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Bermondsey.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Bermondsey. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a great price which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Bermondsey. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Bermondsey are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Bermondsey so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Bermondsey conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Bermondsey where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Bermondsey conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bermondsey from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bermondsey can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Bermondsey charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bermondsey.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Bermondsey leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Where you dont have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle 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 will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

After years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Bermondsey. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Bermondsey premises is 1-41 Royal Tower Lodge 40 Cartwright Street in April 2013. the tribunal adding the agreed value of capitalised ground rents and the reversion the price to be paid for the freehold was £1,187,000 This case was in relation to 41 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 107 years.

I invested in buying a leasehold flat in Bermondsey, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2007. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable flats in Bermondsey with a long lease are worth £188,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2090

With only 64 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £16,200 and £18,600 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on 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 concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.