There are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Tottenham. I am keen to extend my lease 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 for permission 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 demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Tottenham.

I am attracted to a two apartments in Tottenham which have in the region of 50 years unexpired on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Tottenham is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. For most buyers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Tottenham conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Tottenham. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 ensure 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 long established estate agency in Tottenham where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Tottenham conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 simultaneously with 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.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £ 225000 flat in Tottenham in just under a week. The landlords 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 flat conveyance in Tottenham?

Tottenham conveyancing on leasehold flats usually involves the buyer’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to assist. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to sell the property.

I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in Tottenham. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to assess the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Tottenham property is 30 Strode Road in June 2013. Following a vesting order by Edmonton County Court on 20th February 2013 the Tribunal arrived at a valuation for enfranchisement of £10,256 for the premises (£4,074 for the Ground Floor Flat and £6182 for the First Floor Flat) and £100 for the appurtenant land. This case related to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 83.33 and 77.3.

I inherited a split level flat in Tottenham, conveyancing having been completed 10 years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding properties in Tottenham with a long lease are worth £177,000. The ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2103

You have 77 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.