There are only Seventy years remaining on my flat in Whitton. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Whitton.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Whitton. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The physical extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but may incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.
• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• 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
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Whitton.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay 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.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold flat in Whitton. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Whitton who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Whitton conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Whitton from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Whitton can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Whitton state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
• A minority of Whitton leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Whitton conveyancing transaction. Where a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

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

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Whitton flat is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 60.45 years.

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Whitton, conveyancing having been completed 1999. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Whitton with over 90 years remaining are worth £248,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2103

You have 77 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £11,400 and £13,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.