Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Sidcup. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Sidcup.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in Sidcup.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Sidcup. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Sidcup are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in Sidcup in which case you should be shopping around for a Sidcup conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the landlord’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Sidcup where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Sidcup conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

Having spent years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Sidcup. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Sidcup property 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 related to 1 flat.

What makes a Sidcup lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sidcup. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sidcup