There are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Rochdale. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. 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 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 Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Rochdale.

I own a leasehold flat in Rochdale. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Rochdale who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Rochdale conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. 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 apartments in Rochdale both have about 50 years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Rochdale is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. 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 property 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 Rochdale 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 work for a busy estate agency in Rochdale where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Rochdale conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 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 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Rochdale with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Rochdale can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Rochdale levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack 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 cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Rochdale.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Rochdale, conveyancing was carried out 1996. How much will my lease extension cost? Comparable properties in Rochdale with over 90 years remaining are worth £184,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2103

With just 79 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Rochdale