Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Marks Gate. Before diving in I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Marks Gate - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my flat in Marks Gate. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Marks Gate.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Marks Gate where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Marks Gate conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 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 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Marks Gate conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Marks Gate conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Marks Gate conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Marks Gate in the last year?
• What are the costs for lease extension conveyancing?

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Marks Gate from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Marks Gate can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Marks Gate levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. 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 Marks Gate.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Marks Gate state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.
• A minority of Marks Gate leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any 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 you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

I am the leaseholder of a garden flat in Marks Gate. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for a lease extension?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Marks Gate conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Marks Gate premises is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 61.36 years.

I own a 1 bedroom flat in Marks Gate, conveyancing formalities finalised 2009. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Marks Gate with over 90 years remaining are worth £198,000. The ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2090

With only 64 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £15,200 and £17,600 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.