There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Eltham. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 an order 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. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Eltham.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Eltham. Conveyancing solicitors have said 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 Eltham should include some of the following:

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Eltham which have approximately 50 years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Eltham is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Eltham conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Eltham. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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. 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 be sure 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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Eltham with the aim of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Eltham can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Eltham charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. 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 accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Eltham.

After months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Eltham. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Eltham flat is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case related to 1 flat.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Eltham