There are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Kensington. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. 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 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 lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Kensington.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Kensington. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. However, 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 a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Kensington where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Kensington conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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 disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Kensington conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Kensington conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Kensington conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Kensington who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kensington with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kensington can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Kensington charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kensington.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Kensington leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Where you fail to have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
• Some Kensington leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 buyers or their solicitors.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Kensington conveyancing deal. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

After months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Kensington. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Kensington premises is 93 Oakwood Court in June 2010. the LVT determined that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £492,083, This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 37.79 years.

Kensington Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Is there a share of the freehold? How much is the service charge and ground rent on the property?