I only have 72 years remaining on my flat in Elephant and Castle. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

If 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 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Elephant and Castle.

I own a leasehold house in Elephant and Castle. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Elephant and Castle who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Elephant and Castle conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, 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 remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Elephant and Castle. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Elephant and Castle charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Elephant and Castle.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Elephant and Castle leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such works. Should you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.
• A minority of Elephant and Castle leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 solicitors.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

After months of negotiations 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?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Elephant and Castle flat 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 residue of the current lease was 74.77 years.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Elephant and Castle, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2005. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Elephant and Castle with a long lease are worth £260,000. The ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2084

With 58 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £22,800 and £26,400 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.