Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years unexpired on my flat in South Norwood. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering South Norwood.

I work for a long established estate agency in South Norwood where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local South Norwood conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Norwood from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Norwood can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? South Norwood leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you dont have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £500000 garden flat in South Norwood on Friday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Norwood?

South Norwood conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the buyer’s lawyer sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are at liberty charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to complete the sale of your home.

I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in South Norwood. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

if there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to determine the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a South Norwood premises is Flats 55, 67 & 70 Melbourne Court Anerley Road in July 2013. The tribunal calculated that the premium for the extended lease at £48,366.00 for at 55, and £88,329.00 for ats 67 and 70 combined. This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 26.38 years.

Are there frequently found deficiencies that you encounter in leases for South Norwood properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in South Norwood. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• 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. Birmingham Midshires, Barnsley Building Society, and Aldermore all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in South Norwood