Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in South Ruislip. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering South Ruislip.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in South Ruislip. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in South Ruislip who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a South Ruislip conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in South Ruislip where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local South Ruislip conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

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

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a South Ruislip conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non South Ruislip conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in South Ruislip in the last 12 months?
• What are the legal fees for lease extension conveyancing?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in South Ruislip from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Ruislip can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in South Ruislip charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Ruislip.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in South Ruislip state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. If you dont have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Arranging a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a South Ruislip conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

I am the leaseholder of a basement flat in South Ruislip. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a South Ruislip flat is Flat 72 Queens Walk in January 2013. The Tribunals calculated the premium payable to be £22,090. This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 53.26 years.

I bought a garden flat in South Ruislip, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in South Ruislip with a long lease are worth £228,000. The ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2081

With only 55 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £29,500 and £34,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.