I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my lease in Coney Hall. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Coney Hall.

Due to complete next month on a basement flat in Coney Hall. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
• The total extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but may include a loft or cellar if applicable.
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Coney Hall. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Coney Hall who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Coney Hall conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Coney Hall where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Coney Hall conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Coney Hall with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Coney Hall can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Coney Hall levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. 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 Coney Hall.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unsettled.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Coney Hall conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

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

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Coney Hall conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Coney Hall flat is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 50.57 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Coney Hall - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

It would be wise to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they can either make living at the property much easier or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily matters such as the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of other people whether they are happy with their management. In conclusion, be sure you understand the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds.