I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Elephant and Castle. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If 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 Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Elephant and Castle.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Elephant and Castle. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle should include some of the following:

• Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the property, or working from home
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Elephant and Castle please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Elephant and Castle

I own a leasehold house in Elephant and Castle. Conveyancing and Virgin Money mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Elephant and Castle who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Elephant and Castle conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Elephant and Castle both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Elephant and Castle levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle.
• A minority of Elephant and Castle leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual 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.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

After years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Elephant and Castle. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Elephant and Castle conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Elephant and Castle property is Ground Floor Flat 39 Bronsart Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by West London County Court the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the extended lease of the premises was Thirteen Thousand Two hundred pounds (£13,200) in accordance with the valuation. The extended lease was granted for a term of 90 years from the expiry date of the Lease and at a peppercorn ground rent from the date of the vesting order. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 74.77 years.

I invested in buying a basement flat in Elephant and Castle, conveyancing was carried out in 2004. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Elephant and Castle with an extended lease are worth £252,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2102

You have 76 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.