I only have Seventy years left on my lease in Manor Park. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Manor Park.

Planning to exchange soon on a garden flat in Manor Park. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Manor Park should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but may include a roof space or basement if applicable.
• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Manor Park. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Manor Park ?

The majority of houses in Manor Park are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Manor Park so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Manor Park conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer will report to you on the legal implications.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Manor Park where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Manor Park conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Manor Park with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Manor Park can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• A minority of Manor Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat 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 better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Manor Park conveyancing deal. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Manor Park conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

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

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Manor Park flat is 240 Strone Road in January 2014. the tribunal held that the price to be paid for the freehold interest was£23,538 of which£13,017 is attributable to the ground floor flat and £10,521 to the
first floor flat. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 65.5 years.

I invested in buying a 1 bedroom flat in Manor Park, conveyancing formalities finalised 2001. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable properties in Manor Park with a long lease are worth £210,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2094

With only 68 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 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 renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.