Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my lease in Rye. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Rye.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Rye.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 until 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 work for a long established estate agent office in Rye where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Rye conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a Rye conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Rye conveyancing firm) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Rye conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions have they conducted in Rye in the last year?

What are the frequently found deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Rye properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Rye. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• 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 problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Rye Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders enjoy control and although a managing agent is frequently employed where the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. What is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the flat? Make sure you find out if the the lease contains any adverse restrictions in the lease. For example some leases prohibit pets being permitted in in a block in Rye. If you like the propertyin Rye however your dog is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult decision.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Rye