Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years unexpired on my flat in Slade Green. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

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 an order 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 demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. For most situations a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Slade Green.

Planning to complete next month on a garden flat in Slade Green. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
• You need to be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold flat in Slade Green. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Slade Green who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Slade Green conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. 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 couple of flats in Slade Green both have about fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Slade Green. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

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

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Slade Green can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Slade Green charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Slade Green.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Slade Green leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
• Some Slade Green 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 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Slade Green conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

Having spent months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Slade Green. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Slade Green property is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case was in relation to 13 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 76 years.

I bought a studio flat in Slade Green, conveyancing having been completed 2010. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Slade Green with a long lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease terminates on 21st October 2103

With just 77 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously 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.