Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Turvey. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Turvey - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Turvey. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What should I do?

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 extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Turvey.

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Turvey where we have witnessed a number of flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Turvey conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 simultaneously with 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Turvey from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Turvey can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Turvey levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Turvey.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Turvey leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.
• A minority of Turvey leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Turvey home move. Where a duplicate share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £ 400000 garden flat in Turvey on Friday in a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Turvey?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Turvey conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Turvey
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Turvey leasehold premises is £350. For Turvey 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 answers.

I invested in buying a garden flat in Turvey, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2012. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent properties in Turvey with a long lease are worth £267,000. The ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2104

With 78 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.