I have recently realised that I have 68 years unexpired on my flat in Pangbourne. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Pangbourne.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Pangbourne. Conveyancing lawyers inform me 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?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Pangbourne should include some of the following:

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Pangbourne please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Pangbourne

I am attracted to a couple of flats in Pangbourne both have about 50 years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Pangbourne. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is generally wise to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Pangbourne from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Pangbourne can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Pangbourne leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
• A minority of Pangbourne leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Pangbourne conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 250000 apartment in Pangbourne in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Pangbourne?

Pangbourne conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves fees being invoiced by freeholders :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Pangbourne
• 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 Pangbourne leasehold premises is £350. For Pangbourne 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.

Pangbourne Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.