There are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Swiss Cottage. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Swiss Cottage.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Swiss Cottage both have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Swiss Cottage. The lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Swiss Cottage where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Swiss Cottage conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having 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 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 purchaser.

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Swiss Cottage conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Swiss Cottage conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Swiss Cottage conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
• What volume of lease extensions have they conducted in Swiss Cottage in the last twenty four months?

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £ 425000 garden flat in Swiss Cottage in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Swiss Cottage?

For most leasehold sales in Swiss Cottage conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Swiss Cottage
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Swiss Cottage leasehold property is £350. For Swiss Cottage conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to provide answers.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can I make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Swiss Cottage conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Swiss Cottage conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Swiss Cottage flat is First Floor Flat 20 Fitzjohns Avenue in July 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premiums to be paid for new leases in respect of the Raised Ground Floor Flat and the First Floor Flat were to be calculated as: Raised Ground Floor: £765,175.14 First Floor: £601,617.77 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 16.83 and 16.43.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Swiss Cottage - A selection of Queries before buying

The majority of Swiss Cottage leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building invoiced by the landlord. If you buy the apartment you will have to pay this contribution, normally periodically during the year. This can vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. In all probability there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to check as sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. For most Swiss Cottage leaseholds the cost for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Swiss Cottage obliged leaseholders to pay into a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance.