There are only Fifty years unexpired on my flat in Mitcham. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Mitcham.

Expecting to exchange soon on a garden flat in Mitcham. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Mitcham please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Mitcham

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Mitcham. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Mitcham are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Mitcham in which case you should be shopping around for a Mitcham conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a lessee you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Mitcham with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Mitcham can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• A minority of Mitcham leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (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 lawyers.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Mitcham conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £175000 maisonette in Mitcham in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £372 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Mitcham?

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

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Mitcham
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Mitcham leasehold property is £350. For Mitcham 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 correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Mitcham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Mitcham premises is 50 & 52 Southcroft Road in September 2013. The tribunals own valuation determined that the premium payable should be £29,000 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 86.11 and 60.64.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Mitcham