Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Mousehole. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. 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 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 Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Mousehole.

I’m about to sell my 2 bed flat in Mousehole.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear the service charge 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 until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Mousehole both have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Mousehole conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Mousehole conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you speak with two or three firms including non Mousehole conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

What are the costs for lease extension work?

We expect to complete the disposal of our £425000 apartment in Mousehole next Wednesday . The management company has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Mousehole?

Mousehole conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually results in administration charges invoiced by management companies :

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

I invested in buying a basement flat in Mousehole, conveyancing formalities finalised 2006. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Mousehole with over 90 years remaining are worth £251,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2075

You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £33,300 and £38,400 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Mousehole