I only have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Tottenham Hale. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Tottenham Hale.

I’m about to sell my basement flat in Tottenham Hale.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the service charge 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Tottenham Hale from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tottenham Hale can be reduced if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Tottenham Hale charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tottenham Hale.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Tottenham Hale leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you fail to have the consents in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.
• Some Tottenham Hale leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Tottenham Hale conveyancing deal. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 475000 maisonette in Tottenham Hale next Thursday . The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Tottenham Hale?

Tottenham Hale conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Tottenham Hale
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tottenham Hale leasehold property is £350. For Tottenham Hale 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 supply answers.

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 Tottenham Hale. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Tottenham Hale flat is 22 Wakefield Road in January 2012. Following a vesting order Clerkenwell and Shoreditch County Court under section 26 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 on 9th May 2011 the Tribunal decided that the price that the Applicant for the freehold interest should pay is £17,400 This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 74.13 years.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Tottenham Hale what are the most common lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Tottenham Hale. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Clydesdale all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Tottenham Hale Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The best form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this arrangement the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed if it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?