There are only 68 years unexpired on my flat in Tredegar. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

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 for permission 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 or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Tredegar.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Tredegar.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold flat in Tredegar. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Tredegar who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Tredegar conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Tredegar where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Tredegar conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 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 sale.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Tredegar what are the most frequent lease defects?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Tredegar. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

Tredegar Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Please note that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for two years in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension. The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the leaseholders enjoy control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often employed where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. In the main the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Tredegar obliged leasehold owners to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for major works.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tredegar