Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Longhope. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, 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. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Longhope.

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in Longhope.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Longhope which have about fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Longhope is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Longhope conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 450000 flat in Longhope next week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Longhope?

Longhope conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the purchaser’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be willing to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Longhope what are the most frequent lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Longhope is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• 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 as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Aldermore all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Longhope Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

How much is the annual service fee and ground rent? This question is useful as a) areas could cause problems in the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to have complete disclosure Its a good idea to discover as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they will affect your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the cleanliness of the communal areas. Ask other people what they think of them. In conclusion, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending that money.