Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Kingston Vale. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Kingston Vale.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Kingston Vale. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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 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).

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Kingston Vale where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Kingston Vale conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 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 simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £475000 garden flat in Kingston Vale in just under a week. The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Kingston Vale?

Kingston Vale conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They may levy a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

I am the leaseholder of a first floor flat in Kingston Vale. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for a lease extension?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Kingston Vale flat is 19 St. Margarets Crescent in August 2010. the tribunal was of the view that the premium to be paid by the leaseholder for the freehold reversion was £51,983.00 This case related to 3 flats. The unexpired lease term was 66.25 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Kingston Vale what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Kingston Vale. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Lloyds TSB Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Kingston Vale