I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my flat in St Columb. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 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 Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering St Columb.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in St Columb. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Defining your legal entitlements in relation to the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease contain a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

I am attracted to a two flats in St Columb which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in St Columb where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local St Columb conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is 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 has to be done prior to, 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 choosing a St Columb conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a St Columb conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non St Columb conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm carried out in St Columb in the last year?

St Columb Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

Be sure to investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. For instance it is very common in St Columb leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in St Columb. If you like the apartmentin St Columb yet your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be presented with a difficult determination. Are there any major works in the planning that could increase the maintenance fees? You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. For most St Columblease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Columb