Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years left on my flat in Tufnell Park. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Tufnell Park.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Tufnell Park which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Tufnell Park. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Tufnell Park conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Tufnell Park conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Tufnell Park conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions have they conducted in Tufnell Park in the last 12 months?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Tufnell Park who can give a testimonial?

We expect to complete the sale of our £ 375000 garden flat in Tufnell Park on Wednesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Tufnell Park?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Tufnell Park 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-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Tufnell Park
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tufnell Park leasehold premises is £350. For Tufnell Park 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 required to provide answers.

After years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Tufnell Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Tufnell Park property is Flat 2 27 Mackeson Road in December 2012. The Tribunal assessed the value of the lease extension premium at £35,435 and rounded the figure to £35,500 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 64.77 years.

What makes a Tufnell Park lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Tufnell Park. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, The Mortgage Works, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

Tufnell Park Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Most Tufnell Park leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the block set by the landlord. If you buy the flat you will have to meet this charge, normally quarterly during the year. This may be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a ground rent to be met annual, normally this is not a exorbitant amount, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because sometimes it can be prohibitively expensive. On the whole the cost for major works tend not to be incorporated into the service charges, although there some managing agents in Tufnell Park ask tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for major works.