I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my flat in Primrose Hill. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order 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 done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Primrose Hill.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Primrose Hill. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Primrose Hill who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Primrose Hill conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Primrose Hill. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation 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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Primrose Hill from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Primrose Hill can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Primrose Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Primrose Hill.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Primrose Hill leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you fail to have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

A minority of Primrose Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £175000 apartment in Primrose Hill in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Primrose Hill?

Primrose Hill conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times results in fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Primrose Hill
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Primrose Hill leasehold property is £350. For Primrose Hill 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 provide the information.

I am the leaseholder of a ground-floor 1960’s flat in Primrose Hill. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to make a decision on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Primrose Hill flat is Flat 2 27 Mackeson Road in December 2012. The Tribunal assessed the value of the lease extension premium at £35,435 and rounded the figure to £35,500 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 64.77 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Primrose Hill