I only have 62 years left on my lease in Woolwich. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down 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 landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Woolwich.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Woolwich.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is clear 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 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Woolwich conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Woolwich conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you talk with several firms including non Woolwich conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Woolwich who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woolwich with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woolwich can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Woolwich charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woolwich.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Woolwich state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a new share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Woolwich conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 350000 apartment in Woolwich in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Woolwich?

Woolwich conveyancing on leasehold flats usually involves fees being raised by managing agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Woolwich
• 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 Woolwich leasehold premises is £350. For Woolwich 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 supply answers.

Following months of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Woolwich. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Woolwich residence is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 69.77 years.

I acquired a garden flat in Woolwich, conveyancing was carried out 1999. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Corresponding properties in Woolwich with a long lease are worth £171,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2105

With only 79 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide 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 additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.