I have recently realised that I have Seventy years left on my lease in Tutbury. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. In some cases a specialist would be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Tutbury.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in Tutbury.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you clear the invoice 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.

Back In 2001, I bought a leasehold flat in Tutbury. Conveyancing and Bank of Scotland mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Tutbury who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Tutbury conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, 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 attracted to a couple of flats in Tutbury both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Tutbury is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it adversely affects the value of the property. For most purchasers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Tutbury conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

What makes a Tutbury lease unmortgageable?

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

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Bank of Ireland all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Tutbury - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. Generally speaking the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Tutbury require tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger works.

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Lease Extensions in Tutbury