I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Catford. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. 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 find the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Catford.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Catford. Do I have any liability for 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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Catford where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Catford conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 proposed purchaser 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Catford from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Catford can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Catford charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Catford.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Catford conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

My wife and I have hit a brick wall in trying to purchase the freehold in Catford. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to make a decision on the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Catford residence is 44 Elmer Road in January 2013. The Tribunal dacied that amount to be paid by the Leaseholders for the Landlords freehold reversion was £12,951 as at the valuation date (20" September 2012).This matter was referred back to the Bromley County Court to deal with costs, fees and any other outstanding matters. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 74.25 years.

What makes a Catford lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Catford. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Skipton Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Catford Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

What restrictions are contained in the Catford Lease? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability?