Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Peacehaven. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

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 magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Peacehaven.

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold flat in Peacehaven. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Peacehaven who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Peacehaven conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Peacehaven both have approximately forty five years remaining on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Peacehaven. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Peacehaven. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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. However, 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 be sure 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).

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Peacehaven where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Peacehaven conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

Peacehaven Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Who are the managing agents? Make sure you investigate if the the lease includes any onerous restrictions in the lease. For instance plenty of leases prohibit pets being permitted in certain buildings in Peacehaven. If you love the flatin Peacehaven but your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be presented with a hard determination. This information is useful as a) areas can result in problems for the building as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will want to have all the details

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Lease Extensions in Peacehaven