I only have Sixty One years left on my flat in Sydenham. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Sydenham.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Sydenham. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation 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).

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

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sydenham can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Sydenham leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. If you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £325000 maisonette in Sydenham next week. The management company has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Sydenham?

Sydenham conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions the majority will be content to do so. They may levy a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Despite our best efforts, we have been unsuccessful in trying to purchase the freehold in Sydenham. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

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

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Sydenham residence is Flat 5 4 Border Crescent in December 2013. the tribunal calculated that premium payable for the acquisition of a lease extension of the subject premises was in the sum of £14,900 (Fourteen thousand, nine hundred pounds). Those advising the applicant were advised to send a copy of the decision and a copy of the new lease with the premium (less the applicants costs as assessed by the Court) to the Croydon County Court (under claim number 3CR01226) for an officer of the Court to execute the new lease on behalf of the absentee landlord who is missing and cannot be traced). This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 69 years.

What makes a Sydenham lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Sydenham. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• 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

You may encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sydenham