There are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Mynydd Isa. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Mynydd Isa.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in Mynydd Isa. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Mynydd Isa ?

The majority of houses in Mynydd Isa are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Mynydd Isa in which case you should be shopping around for a Mynydd Isa conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the freeholder’sconsent to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Mynydd Isa where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Mynydd Isa conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Mynydd Isa from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Mynydd Isa can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Mynydd Isa levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Mynydd Isa.

If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Mynydd Isa leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Where you dont have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.

A minority of Mynydd Isa leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Mynydd Isa home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete our sale of a £350000 garden flat in Mynydd Isa next Friday . The management company has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Mynydd Isa?

For most leasehold sales in Mynydd Isa 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 conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Mynydd Isa
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Mynydd Isa leasehold premises is £350. For Mynydd Isa 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 answers.

Mynydd Isa Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

How long is the Lease? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? What restrictions are contained in the Mynydd Isa Lease?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Mynydd Isa