There are only 68 years left on my lease in Seaham. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application 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 magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate 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 property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Seaham.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Seaham.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 management companies 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in Seaham where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Seaham conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Seaham conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Seaham conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with two or three firms including non Seaham conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How experienced is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Seaham who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Seaham with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Seaham can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• A minority of Seaham leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Seaham home move. If a reissued share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Seaham Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Is anyone aware of any major works in the planning that will increase the service costs?