I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Hanworth. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Hanworth.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in Hanworth. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Hanworth are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in Hanworth in which case you should be looking for a Hanworth conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Hanworth. Conveyancing and Britannia mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Hanworth who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Hanworth conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, 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 looking at a couple of maisonettes in Hanworth which have about forty five years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a long established estate agency in Hanworth where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hanworth conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 buyer.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Hanworth conveyancing firm to assist?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hanworth property is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 82.93 years.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Hanworth, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Hanworth with a long lease are worth £270,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2102

You have 76 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £11,400 and £13,200 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.