I only have 62 years unexpired on my flat in Lydney. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

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 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. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Lydney.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Lydney. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Lydney should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but may incorporate a loft or basement if applicable.
• Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease permit a right of way over a path or staircase?
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What you can do if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I am looking at a two flats in Lydney which have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease shortens the value of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Lydney where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Lydney conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Lydney from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Lydney can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Lydney state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer before hand.
• A minority of Lydney leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 solicitors.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Lydney conveyancing deal. Where a new share is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Lydney, conveyancing formalities finalised 1997. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in Lydney with an extended lease are worth £268,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease finishes on 21st October 2093

You have 67 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £12,400 and £14,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously 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.