Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Havering-atte-Bower. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Havering-atte-Bower.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Havering-atte-Bower.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in Havering-atte-Bower. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Havering-atte-Bower who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Havering-atte-Bower. 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 ensure 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).

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 250000 flat in Havering-atte-Bower in 8 days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Havering-atte-Bower?

Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually results in fees being raised by freeholders :

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Havering-atte-Bower
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Havering-atte-Bower leasehold property is £350. For Havering-atte-Bower 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 have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing firm to help?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Havering-atte-Bower conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Havering-atte-Bower flat 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.

Havering-atte-Bower Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Who is in charge of the building? You should want to discover as much as you can about the managing agents as they will either make living at the property much simpler or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to day to day matters like the tidiness of the communal areas. Enquire of other tenants whether they are happy with their service. Finally, find out the dates that the service charges are due to the appropriate party and specifically how they are spending that money. You should be aware if it is no more than eighty years it will impact the salability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. For most Havering-atte-Bowerlease extensions you would be required to have been the owner of the premises for two years in order to be legally able to extend the lease.