I have recently realised that I have 72 years left on my lease in Hook. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, 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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Hook.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in Hook.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Hook. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to 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. A critical element 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).

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Hook where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Hook conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start 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 simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 Hook from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hook can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Hook levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hook.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hook state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you dont have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• Some Hook leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly 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 solicitors.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming process and slows down many a Hook conveyancing transaction. If a new share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

I own a basement flat in Hook. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the premium due for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the LVT to judgment on the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Hook property is Flat D 15 Claremont Gardens in September 2013. TheTribunal determined in accordance with section48 and Schedule13 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be fourteen thousand one hundred and eighty seven pounds (£14,187.00) This case affected 1 flat.

I acquired a 1st floor flat in Hook, conveyancing having been completed 9 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 Hook with a long lease are worth £240,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2090

You have 64 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to be between £14,300 and £16,400 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered 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.