I only have Fifty years left on my lease in Swinton. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Swinton.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Swinton which have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I work for a long established estate agent office in Swinton where we see a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Swinton conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £275000 apartment in Swinton in 10 days. The landlords agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Swinton?

Swinton conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually necessitates fees being raised by managing agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Swinton
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Swinton leasehold premises is £350. For Swinton 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 provide answers.

What makes a Swinton lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Swinton. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Leeds Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Swinton, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Swinton with a long lease are worth £184,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2081

You have 57 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £25,700 and £29,600 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Swinton