Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Lower Clapton. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Lower Clapton.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Lower Clapton. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Lower Clapton who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a Lower Clapton conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Lower Clapton where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Lower Clapton conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Lower Clapton from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Lower Clapton can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Lower Clapton state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you fail to have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Lower Clapton conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 250000 flat in Lower Clapton next week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Lower Clapton?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Lower Clapton conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Lower Clapton
• 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 Lower Clapton leasehold property is £350. For Lower Clapton 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 obliged to supply the information.

Following years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Lower Clapton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Lower Clapton flat is 104 Nightingale Road in May 2009. The Tribunal's Decision is that the premium torbe paid for the enfranchisement in this case is £112,174 This case related to 10 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 71.25 years.

Lower Clapton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before buying

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