I have recently realised that I have 68 years remaining on my flat in Lymm. I need 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 apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Lymm.

I own a leasehold flat in Lymm. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Lymm who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Lymm conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Lymm. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part 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).

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Lymm where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Lymm conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £450000 apartment in Lymm on Friday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Lymm?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Lymm conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Lymm
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Lymm leasehold property is £350. For Lymm 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 provide answers.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Lymm - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

It would be wise to enquire if the the lease contains any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Lymm leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Lymm. If you like the flatin Lymm yet your dog can’t live with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? Is the freehold owned jointly by the tenants?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Lymm