There are only 62 years left on my lease in Radcliffe. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord 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 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 demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Radcliffe.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold flat in Radcliffe. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Radcliffe who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Radcliffe conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Radcliffe both have approximately fifty years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Radcliffe is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property 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 premises 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 Radcliffe conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend 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 am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Radcliffe where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Radcliffe conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 commence 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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Completion in due on the sale of our £375000 apartment in Radcliffe next Friday . The managing agents has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Radcliffe?

Radcliffe conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not necessitates the purchaser’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 levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

Radcliffe Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the tenants enjoy being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability? Is there a share of the freehold?

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Lease Extensions in Radcliffe