There are only Fifty years left on my flat in Scarborough. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. 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 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 done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Scarborough.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Scarborough.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the service charge 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 reputable estate agency in Scarborough where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Scarborough conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

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

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Scarborough conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non Scarborough conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm carried out in Scarborough in the last twenty four months?

What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

We expect to complete the sale of our £150000 maisonette in Scarborough in 10 days. The management company has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Scarborough?

Scarborough conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Scarborough
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Scarborough leasehold premises is £350. For Scarborough 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.

I own a leasehold flat in Scarborough, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar properties in Scarborough with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2091

With only 66 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £13,300 and £15,400 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Scarborough