Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years remaining on my lease in Poundbury. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Poundbury.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Poundbury. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Poundbury should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but might incorporate a loft or basement if applicable.
• Setting out your rights in respect of common areas in the building.By way of example, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
• Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the flat, or having a home office for business
• You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Poundbury both have approximately 50 years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Poundbury. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Poundbury where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Poundbury conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Poundbury what are the most frequent lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Poundbury is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Aldermore all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Poundbury Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying

The answer will be important as a) areas could result in problems in the building as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance are not paid for b) if the tenants have an issue with the managing agents you will need to have all the details