I only have Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Morden Park. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Morden Park.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since found out that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns purchasing a leasehold house in Morden Park. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Morden Park are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in Morden Park so you should seriously consider looking for a Morden Park conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant 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. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold house in Morden Park. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Morden Park who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Morden Park conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Morden Park which have about 50 years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Morden Park is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Morden Park conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Morden Park levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Morden Park.
• Some Morden Park 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 financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. 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 resolve 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy formality and slows down many a Morden Park home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

Having spent months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Morden Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to determine the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Morden Park property is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 60.43 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Morden Park - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

The answer will be important as a) areas may cause problems in the building as the common areas may start to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have all the details The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.