There are only 68 years left on my flat in Camden Town. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. For most situations a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Camden Town.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Camden Town. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

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

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Camden Town. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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).

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Camden Town where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Camden Town conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 kick-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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £350000 flat in Camden Town on Thursday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £360 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Camden Town?

Camden Town conveyancing on leasehold flats often necessitates the buyer’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They are at liberty invoice a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it is in excess of £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to sell the property.

I am the leaseholder of a ground floor flat in Camden Town. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for the purchase of the freehold?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to determine the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Camden Town residence is Flat 120, Clare Court Judd Street in August 2013. the Tribunal held that the premium to be paid for the extension of the lease should be £64,650 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 62.79 years.