I only have Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Marlow. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. 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 submit an application 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Marlow.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Marlow. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Marlow who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Marlow conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Marlow which have approximately forty five years remaining on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why 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 companies may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a busy estate agency in Marlow where we see a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Marlow conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

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

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Marlow can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Marlow charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Marlow.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Marlow state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in advance.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Marlow conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Marlow Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

The answer will be helpful as a) areas may cause problems for the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if services are not paid for b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to know about it The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees enjoy being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. How many years remain on the lease?