Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Ruxley. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Ruxley - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

There are only Sixty One years left on my flat in Ruxley. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Ruxley.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Ruxley which have about forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Ruxley conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Ruxley conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non Ruxley conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be useful:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
• What are the costs for lease extension work?

We expect to complete the disposal of our £ 225000 flat in Ruxley in just under a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Ruxley?

Ruxley conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times involves administration charges invoiced by management companies :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Ruxley
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Ruxley leasehold premises is £350. For Ruxley 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 required to supply the information.

Following years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Ruxley. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Ruxley residence is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case affected 1 flat.

I am the registered owner of a leasehold flat in Ruxley, conveyancing was carried out 2005. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Ruxley with an extended lease are worth £195,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2081

You have 55 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £27,600 and £31,800 as well as costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.