Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Lynton. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Lynton.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Lynton both have in the region of fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Lynton. 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 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 am employed by a busy estate agent office in Lynton where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Lynton conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Lynton from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Lynton can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Lynton levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Lynton.

I invested in buying a 1st floor flat in Lynton, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in Lynton with over 90 years remaining are worth £178,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2095

With 74 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Lynton