There are only 62 years left on my lease in Wormwood Scrubs. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Wormwood Scrubs.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Wormwood Scrubs.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I work for a busy estate agency in Wormwood Scrubs where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Wormwood Scrubs conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Wormwood Scrubs leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. If you dont have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
• Some Wormwood Scrubs leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 solicitors.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is 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.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 475000 maisonette in Wormwood Scrubs in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Wormwood Scrubs?

Wormwood Scrubs conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the purchaser’s lawyer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions the majority will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is above £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

After years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Wormwood Scrubs. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Wormwood Scrubs property is 23 & 23A Collingbourne Road in June 2013. Tribunal was dealing with the assessment of the value of the freehold reversion and determination of the terms of the acquisition pursuant to an Order of District Judge Lightman dated 25 February 2013 vesting the freehold interest in the property in the applicant. The tribunal assessed the price of the freehold (to which any arrears or other sums due to the missing landlord under the leases should be added) at £81,638. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 64.5 years.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Wormwood Scrubs, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Equivalent properties in Wormwood Scrubs with an extended lease are worth £236,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2098

With 72 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range 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 in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.