I have recently realised that I have 68 years left on my flat in Somerstown. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Somerstown.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Somerstown. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Somerstown who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Somerstown conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, 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 attracted to a couple of flats in Somerstown both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Somerstown is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the premises. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Somerstown conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Somerstown from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Somerstown can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Somerstown charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Somerstown.

Having spent years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Somerstown. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Somerstown residence is Flat 120, Clare Court Judd Street in August 2013. the Tribunal held that the premium to be paid for the extension of the lease should be £64,650 This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 62.79 years.

What makes a Somerstown lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Somerstown. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Barnsley Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.