I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my lease in Paddington. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce 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 property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Paddington.

Due to exchange soon on a basement flat in Paddington. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• The physical extent of the property. This will be the apartment itself but may incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.
• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I am attracted to a two apartments in Paddington both have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Paddington is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 premises 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 Paddington conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. 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.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Paddington where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Paddington conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.

Despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in negotiating a lease extension in Paddington. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Paddington property is Flats 37 & 39 88/90 Portland Place in December 2010. The Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the lease extensions in respect of these two flats is as follows:- For Flat 37, the sum of £385,230.00 For Flat 39, the sum of £436,780.00 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 24.02 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Paddington what are the most common lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Paddington. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Paddington - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

The majority of Paddington leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building invoiced on behalf of the freeholder. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, usually in instalments throughout the year. This may be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a large sum, say about £25-£75 but you should to enquire as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. What is the name of the managing agents?