I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my lease in Ponthir. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

If 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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Ponthir.

Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Ponthir. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Ponthir should include some of the following:

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Ponthir please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Ponthir

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Ponthir conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Ponthir conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Ponthir conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• How many lease extensions have they carried out in Ponthir in the last year?

What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Ponthir from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ponthir can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Ponthir levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Ponthir.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Ponthir leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.

A minority of Ponthir leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve 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 particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

We expect to complete our sale of a £375000 apartment in Ponthir in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Ponthir?

For most leasehold sales in Ponthir conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Ponthir
• 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 Ponthir leasehold property is £350. For Ponthir 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 obliged to supply the information.

I bought a 2 bed flat in Ponthir, conveyancing having been completed in 2004. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Equivalent flats in Ponthir with an extended lease are worth £180,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2087

With 62 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £16,200 and £18,600 plus professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously 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.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ponthir