There are only 72 years left on my flat in Sandhurst. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Sandhurst.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Sandhurst. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• The total extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but might incorporate a roof space or basement if appropriate.
• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• Are pets allowed in the flat?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Sandhurst please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Sandhurst

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

When appointing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Sandhurst conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Sandhurst conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Sandhurst from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Sandhurst can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Sandhurst charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Sandhurst.
• A minority of Sandhurst leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 275000 flat in Sandhurst in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Sandhurst?

For most leasehold sales in Sandhurst 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 pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Sandhurst
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Sandhurst leasehold premises is £350. For Sandhurst 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 required to supply answers.

Sandhurst Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Be sure to find out if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance it is fairly common in Sandhurst leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Sandhurst. If you love the apartmentin Sandhurst however your cat can’t make the move with you then you will be presented with a difficult determination. Many Sandhurst leasehold apartments will have a service charge for the upkeep of the building set on behalf of the landlord. If you buy the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually in instalments accross the year. This can vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all probability there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a significant amount, say around £25-£75 but you need to check it because on occasion it could be many hundreds of pounds. You will want to discover as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they can either make living at the property much easier or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are often in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters such as the upkeep of the communal areas. You should not be afraid to ask other people what they think of them. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance charges are due to the relevant party and specifically what you get for your money.