I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my flat in Brompton. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Brompton.

Looking forward to complete next month on a garden flat in Brompton. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Brompton should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

I've found a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Brompton. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Brompton ?

The majority of houses in Brompton are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Brompton in which case you should be looking for a Brompton conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’spermission to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Brompton which have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Brompton is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property 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 Brompton conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in Brompton where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Brompton conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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. This means 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 has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

After years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Brompton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to calculate the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Brompton property 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 was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 13.33 years.