There are only Seventy years unexpired on my flat in Newton Aycliffe. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If 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. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can 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 devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Newton Aycliffe.

Looking forward to complete next month on a leasehold property in Newton Aycliffe. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

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

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 rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide. For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Newton Aycliffe please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Newton Aycliffe

Back In 2001, I bought a leasehold house in Newton Aycliffe. Conveyancing and Lloyds TSB Bank mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Newton Aycliffe who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Newton Aycliffe conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Newton Aycliffe where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Newton Aycliffe conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 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.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £275000 maisonette in Newton Aycliffe next Thursday . The managing agents has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Newton Aycliffe?

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

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Newton Aycliffe
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Newton Aycliffe leasehold property is £350. For Newton Aycliffe 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.

Newton Aycliffe Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Its a good idea to discover as much as you can concerning the managing agents as they can either make your life much simpler or a lot more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Don't be shy to ask other tenants what they think of their service. Finally, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and specifically what you get for your money. The prefered form of lease arrangement is where the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders have control and although a managing agent is often retained if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Be sure to find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Newton Aycliffe leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Newton Aycliffe. If you like the propertyin Newton Aycliffe however your cat can’t make the move with you then you have a very hard determination.

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Lease Extensions in Newton Aycliffe