There are only 62 years remaining on my flat in Harringay. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Harringay.

I own a leasehold flat in Harringay. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Harringay who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Harringay conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Harringay where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Harringay conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Harringay from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Harringay can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Harringay charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Harringay.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Harringay state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Where you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.

A minority of Harringay leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 purchasers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than unsettled.

Completion in due on our sale of a £400000 garden flat in Harringay next Wednesday . The managing agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Harringay?

Harringay conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Harringay
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Harringay leasehold premises is £350. For Harringay conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

I am the leaseholder of a basement flat in Harringay. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Harringay conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Harringay flat is 37 St. Margarets Avenue in January 2010. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 8th November 2008 the Tribunal decided that the price that the Applicant for the freehold interest should pay is £20,543 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 74.75 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Harringay