I only have 68 years remaining on my lease in Bowes Park. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

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 granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. On the whole a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Bowes Park.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Bowes Park both have about 50 years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Bowes Park. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Bowes Park conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Bowes Park conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Bowes Park conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Bowes Park who can give a testimonial?

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

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bowes Park can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Bowes Park charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought 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 reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bowes Park.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Bowes Park state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
• Some Bowes Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved 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 completion of the sale. 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

Following months of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Bowes Park. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Bowes Park property is First Floor Flat 109 Lyndhurst Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 29th October 2009 the Tribunal decided on a figure of £5,012 for a lease extension. This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 81.79 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Bowes Park what are the most frequent lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Bowes Park is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I bought a ground floor flat in Bowes Park, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Bowes Park with a long lease are worth £200,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2093

With just 67 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £12,400 and £14,200 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.