There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Parsons Green. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If 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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Parsons Green.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Parsons Green. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Parsons Green who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Parsons Green conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Parsons Green which have about 50 years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Parsons Green. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Parsons Green. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Parsons Green where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Parsons Green conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Having spent years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Parsons Green. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the price payable.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Parsons Green residence is 66 and 66a Wardo Avenue in November 2012. The Tribunal determined that the sum of £8,048 is payable by the Applicants in respect of the price for the freehold of the property This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 93 years and 162 years.

I purchased a basement flat in Parsons Green, conveyancing was carried out 7 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding properties in Parsons Green with over 90 years remaining are worth £244,000. The ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2085

You have 59 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £22,800 and £26,400 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.