I only have Fifty years remaining on my flat in Purley. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. In some cases a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Purley.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Purley. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

The total extent of the property. This will be the apartment itself but may include a loft or basement if appropriate.

Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or working from home

You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Purley please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Purley

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Purley where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Purley conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the buyer need not have 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 prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Purley from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Purley can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Purley charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Purley.

Some Purley leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Purley conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £275000 flat in Purley in just under a week. The management company has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Purley?

Purley conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily results in administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Purley
• 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 Purley leasehold premises is £350. For Purley 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 the information.

I am the registered owner of a ground floor flat in Purley. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Purley conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Purley property is The Woodlands 95 Purley Park Road in April 2009. The Tribunals own valuation produced the fi
gure of £37,912. This case affected 6 flats. The unexpired lease term was 78.32 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Purley