Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my lease in Wormwood Scrubs. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. 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 granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report 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 devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Wormwood Scrubs.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Wormwood Scrubs. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Wormwood Scrubs charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack 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 usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £175000 maisonette in Wormwood Scrubs in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Wormwood Scrubs?

Wormwood Scrubs conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually requires the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions most will be content to do so. They are at liberty levy a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Wormwood Scrubs. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

if there is a absentee freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Wormwood Scrubs premises 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 related to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 64.5 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs what are the most common lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Wormwood Scrubs. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• 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 as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have express conveyancing instructions 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 withdraw.