There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Sydenham. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Sydenham.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Sydenham. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

The total extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may include a loft or basement if applicable.

Setting out your rights in relation to the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease permit a right of way over a path or staircase?

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Sydenham please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Sydenham

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Sydenham.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a half-yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Sydenham. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Sydenham who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Sydenham conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £450000 maisonette in Sydenham on Thursday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Sydenham?

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

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Sydenham
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Sydenham leasehold property is £350. For Sydenham 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 the information.

Having spent months of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Sydenham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Sydenham conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Sydenham flat is Flat 1 4 Border Crescent in March 2012. the Tribunal decided that the sum payable by the Applicants to the Respondent in respect of the new lease for the subject property should be £11,616.00 (ElevenThousand and Six Hundred and Sixteen Pounds) This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 72.04 years.

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Lease Extensions in Sydenham