I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Elm Park. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

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 extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Elm Park.

Due to complete next month on a studio apartment in Elm Park. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Elm Park should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Elm Park where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Elm Park conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £500000 flat in Elm Park in six days. The managing agents has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Elm Park?

Elm Park conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not involves the purchaser’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries most will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

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

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Elm Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Elm Park property is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 57.5 years.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Elm Park properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Elm Park is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, Coventry Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Elm Park