I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Tilehurst. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Tilehurst.

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Tilehurst.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I own a leasehold flat in Tilehurst. Conveyancing and Leeds Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Tilehurst who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Tilehurst conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Tilehurst which have about 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a busy estate agency in Tilehurst where we have experienced a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Tilehurst conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 commence 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 wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Tilehurst - A selection of Queries before buying

Please tell me if there are any major works in the planning that could add a premium to the service costs? Generally speaking the cost for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Tilehurst obliged leaseholders to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for major works. You should want to discover as much as possible about the company managing the block as they can either make your life much simpler or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day issues like the upkeep of the common parts. Enquire of prospective neighbours what they think of their service. In conclusion, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely how they are spending the funds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tilehurst