I only have 62 years unexpired on my flat in North Ockendon. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing North Ockendon.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in North Ockendon. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

The total extent of the premises. This will be the flat itself but could also incorporate a roof space or cellar if appropriate.

Defining your legal entitlements in respect of common areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over a path or hallways?

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions) For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in North Ockendon please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in North Ockendon

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in North Ockendon.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am attracted to a two flats in North Ockendon which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in North Ockendon. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £150000 maisonette in North Ockendon on Friday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in North Ockendon?

For the majority of leasehold sales in North Ockendon 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 North Ockendon
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for North Ockendon leasehold property is £350. For North Ockendon 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 answers.

I inherited a second floor flat in North Ockendon. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a North Ockendon flat is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 57.5 years.

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Lease Extensions in North Ockendon