Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Stafford. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Stafford.

Due to exchange soon on a garden flat in Stafford. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me 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 Stafford should include some of the following:

• Setting out your rights in relation to common areas in the block.For example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or staircase?

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Stafford please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Stafford

I own a leasehold house in Stafford. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Stafford who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Stafford conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Stafford where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Stafford conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 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 simultaneously with 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £150000 flat in Stafford next Wednesday . The management company has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Stafford?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Stafford
• 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 Stafford leasehold premises is £350. For Stafford 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 provide the information.

Stafford Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before buying

Most Stafford leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for maintenance of the block levied by the management company. If you buy the apartment you will have to pay this liability, normally periodically throughout the year. This can vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a large amount, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire it because occasionally it can be surprisingly expensive. This question is helpful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the tenants have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to have all the details Who are the managing agents?

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Lease Extensions in Stafford