Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my lease in Morecambe. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Morecambe.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Morecambe. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Morecambe should include some of the following:

• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Morecambe please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Morecambe

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Morecambe.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the invoice 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.

We expect to complete our sale of a £125000 apartment in Morecambe in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Morecambe?

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

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Morecambe
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Morecambe leasehold premises is £350. For Morecambe 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 obliged to supply answers.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Morecambe what are the most common lease problems?

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

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Barnsley Building Society, and Bank of Ireland 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 provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Morecambe Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Best to be warned if window replacement or some other major work is coming up to be shared by the leasehold owners and could well dramatically increase the the service fees or necessitate a one time payment. The answer will be useful as a) areas can cause problems in the building as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will want to have all the details It would be prudent to discover as much as you can concerning the company managing the block as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical issues like the cleanliness of the common parts. Enquire of other people what they think of their service. On a final note, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Morecambe