I have recently realised that I have Seventy years remaining on my flat in Eden Park. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Eden Park.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Eden Park.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the service charge 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Eden Park. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

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 ensure 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 employed by a reputable estate agency in Eden Park where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Eden Park conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Eden Park from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Eden Park can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Eden Park levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack 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 frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Eden Park.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Eden Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you dont have the paperwork in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• A minority of Eden Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. 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 important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I am the proprietor of a first flat in Eden Park. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum due for the purchase of the freehold?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Eden Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Eden Park flat is 26 Manor Road in July 2010. the Tribunal decided that price to be paid for the freehold was £12,420 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76.75 and 88.83.

Eden Park Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Most Eden Park leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building invoiced by the management company. Should you buy the flat you will have to meet this contribution, normally periodically during the year. This could be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, ordinarily this is not a large sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. Make sure you find out if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. For example it is very common in Eden Park leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Eden Park. If you like the propertyin Eden Park but your dog can’t move with you then you will be faced hard compromise.