Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my flat in Cheam. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Cheam.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Cheam.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Cheam. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Cheam who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Cheam conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Cheam both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Cheam is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive 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 a residence 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 Cheam conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Cheam from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cheam can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Cheam levy fees for providing 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 reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Cheam.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Cheam state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. If you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in Cheam. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to determine the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Cheam flat is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 60.43 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Cheam - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

You will want to find out as much as possible regarding the managing agents as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical issues like the tidiness of the communal areas. You should not be shy to ask prospective neighbours what they think of their service. In conclusion, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically what you get for your money. On the whole the outlay for major works tend not to be wrapped into the maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Cheam ask leaseholders to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works.