I have recently realised that I have 72 years unexpired on my lease in Tottenham. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Tottenham.

Expecting to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Tottenham. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

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

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Tottenham please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Tottenham

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Tottenham. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Tottenham who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a Tottenham conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Tottenham both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Tottenham is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under 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 property 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 property 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. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £275000 garden flat in Tottenham in six days. The management company has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Tottenham?

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

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Tottenham
• 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 Tottenham leasehold property is £350. For Tottenham 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.

Having spent years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tottenham. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the premium.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal 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 was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 83.33 and 77.3.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tottenham