I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Leaves Green. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Leaves Green - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

There are only 62 years remaining on my flat in Leaves Green. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

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 enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Leaves Green.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Leaves Green. Am I liable to pay 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. 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 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 long established estate agent office in Leaves Green where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Leaves Green conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Leaves Green from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Leaves Green can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Leaves Green leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
• A minority of Leaves Green leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 buyers or their solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a Leaves Green conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

I have given up seeking a lease extension in Leaves Green. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Leaves Green conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Leaves Green property is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 50.57 years.

I inherited a split level flat in Leaves Green, conveyancing having been completed 5 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Leaves Green with an extended lease are worth £171,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2098

With just 72 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.