I only have 62 years remaining on my flat in Polperro. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Polperro.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Polperro.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Polperro which have approximately forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Polperro is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the value of the property. For most buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Polperro conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Polperro where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Polperro conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Polperro with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Polperro can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Polperro leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer first.
• A minority of Polperro leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet the annual 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Polperro home move. Where a new share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Polperro - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.