Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years unexpired on my lease in Stratford. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. 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 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 prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Stratford.

Expecting to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Stratford. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
• You must be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Stratford. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Stratford where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Stratford conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Stratford with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stratford can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Stratford state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. If you dont have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in advance.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a lengthy formality and slows down many a Stratford conveyancing transaction. If a new share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I am the leaseholder of a ground floor flat in Stratford. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum due for a lease extension?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to arrive at the premium.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Stratford premises is 12 Nutfield Road in July 2014. the Tribunal judged that the price to be paid by the applicants for the freehold interest should be £19,572 This case related to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72.02 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Stratford - A selection of Queries before buying

Is the freehold reversion owned collectively by the leaseholders?