I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my lease in Old Oak Common. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order 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. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Old Oak Common.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement apartment in Old Oak Common.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Old Oak Common. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Old Oak Common where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Old Oak Common conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 are your top tips when it comes to finding a Old Oak Common conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Old Oak Common conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Old Oak Common conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in Old Oak Common in the last 12 months?

After years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Old Oak Common. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to assess the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Old Oak Common premises is 49 Long Drive in March 2014. The tribunal concluded that the price payable for the freehold interest in the Property should be £26,491 divided as to £12,546 in respect of the ground floor flat and £13,945 in respect of the
first floor flat This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 68.47 years.