I only have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Crayford. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Crayford.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Crayford. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Crayford ?

Most houses in Crayford are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Crayford in which case you should be shopping around for a Crayford conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will appraise you on the various issues.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Crayford. 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 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 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).

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Crayford conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Crayford conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you talk with two or three firms including non Crayford conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• What volume of lease extensions have they conducted in Crayford in the last year?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Crayford who can give a testimonial?

Following years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Crayford. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Crayford conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Crayford property is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.

What makes a Crayford lease unmortgageable?

Leasehold conveyancing in Crayford is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Bank of Ireland all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Crayford Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

Please inform me if there are any major works in the planning that could add a premium to the maintenance fees? Plenty Crayford leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building set by the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically throughout the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large amount, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire as on occasion it can be many hundreds of pounds.