There are only Seventy years left on my flat in South Brent. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the freeholder. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering South Brent.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in South Brent which have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in South Brent is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the value of the premises. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 a residence 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 South Brent 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 You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new 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.

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

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in South Brent can be reduced if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• A minority of South Brent leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to 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 clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a South Brent conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 250000 flat in South Brent next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Brent?

For most leasehold sales in South Brent conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in South Brent
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for South Brent leasehold premises is £350. For South Brent 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 obliged to supply answers.

What are the frequently found problems that you encounter in leases for South Brent properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in South Brent. Most leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, Coventry Building Society, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

South Brent Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

Who are the managing agents?