There are only Seventy years left on my flat in Hackney Wick. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Hackney Wick.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Hackney Wick which have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Hackney Wick. The lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• A minority of Hackney Wick leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Hackney Wick conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should 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 below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 250000 flat in Hackney Wick next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Hackney Wick?

Hackney Wick conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not involves the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to assist. They may levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.

I own a ground-floor 1960’s flat in Hackney Wick. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Hackney Wick property is 12 Nutfield Road in July 2014. the Tribunal judged that the price to be paid by the applicants for the freehold interest should be £19,572 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 72.02 years.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick what are the most frequent lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Hackney Wick is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will encounter 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. Birmingham Midshires, Leeds Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed 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, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Hackney Wick Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before buying

Who are the managing agents?