I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Turvey. I now wish to extend my lease 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Turvey.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Turvey both have approximately forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Turvey. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why 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 because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Turvey. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Turvey where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Turvey conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 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 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 Turvey what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Turvey. All leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• 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

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. HSBC Bank, Skipton Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society 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 is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Turvey Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

This question is helpful as a) areas could cause problems in the block as the common areas may begin to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have an issue with the running of the building you will wish to know about it Who takes responsibility for maintaining and repairing the block? The best form of lease structure is where the freehold reversion is owned by the leaseholders. In this situation the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.