I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my lease in Stanford Le Hope. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Stanford Le Hope.

Due to complete next month on a garden flat in Stanford Le Hope. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Stanford Le Hope should include some of the following:

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are issues purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Stanford Le Hope. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Stanford Le Hope are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Stanford Le Hope in which case you should be shopping around for a Stanford Le Hope conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the landlord’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your conveyancer should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Stanford Le Hope which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Stanford Le Hope where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Stanford Le Hope conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

Stanford Le Hope Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

How much is the ground rent and service charge? If a Stanford Le Hope lease has no more than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. For most Stanford Le Hopelease extensions you would be required to have been the owner of the residence for two years before you are entitled to extend the lease. Does the lease include onerous restrictions?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Stanford Le Hope