There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Penrith. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Penrith.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Penrith. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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. A critical element 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).

I work for a busy estate agent office in Penrith where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Penrith conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Penrith conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Penrith conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with several firms including non Penrith conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Penrith who can give a testimonial?
• What are the charges for lease extension work?

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 350000 maisonette in Penrith in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Penrith?

Penrith conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally requires the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are entitled invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is above £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

I purchased a leasehold flat in Penrith, conveyancing was carried out 9 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Penrith with an extended lease are worth £213,000. The ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease terminates on 21st October 2088

With only 62 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £21,900 and £25,200 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.