I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my lease in Pentyrch. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Pentyrch.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to meet my requirements, at a reasonable figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Pentyrch. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Pentyrch are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Pentyrch in which case you should be looking for a Pentyrch conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Pentyrch where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Pentyrch conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Pentyrch from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Pentyrch can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Pentyrch leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you dont have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Pentyrch home move. If a reissued share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £ 475000 apartment in Pentyrch next week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Pentyrch?

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

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Pentyrch leasehold premises is £350. For Pentyrch 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 provide the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Pentyrch - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying