There are only Fifty years left on my flat in East Dulwich. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing East Dulwich.

Planning to exchange soon on a studio apartment in East Dulwich. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in East Dulwich 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 physical extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but might include a roof space or basement if applicable.
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in East Dulwich.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold house in East Dulwich. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd 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 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in East Dulwich who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a East Dulwich conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured 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 agent office in East Dulwich where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local East Dulwich conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

I am the proprietor of a basement flat in East Dulwich. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for a lease extension?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a East Dulwich premises is Flat 1 40-42 Ewelme Road in August 2012. the Tribunal assessed the premium for the lease extension in the sum of £11,800 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 61.81 years.

I own a 2 bed flat in East Dulwich, conveyancing formalities finalised 1998. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in East Dulwich with over 90 years remaining are worth £250,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2093

With just 67 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £16,200 and £18,600 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.