Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Mudeford. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare 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 conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Mudeford.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Mudeford.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 managing agents 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 own a leasehold house in Mudeford. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Mudeford who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Mudeford conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Mudeford. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation 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).

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 250000 flat in Mudeford in 8 days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Mudeford?

For most leasehold sales in Mudeford 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 enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Mudeford
• 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 Mudeford leasehold property is £350. For Mudeford 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 supply the information.

Mudeford Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Who are the managing agents? It would be sensible to find out as much as you can concerning the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much simpler or uncomfortable. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters like the cleanliness of the common parts. You should not be afraid to ask other people if they are happy with them. Finally, be sure you discover the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and specifically how they are spending the funds. Where a Mudeford lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the marketability of the apartment. Check with your bank that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have been the owner of the premises for a couple of years in order to be entitled to extend the lease.