I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my flat in Wisbech. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Wisbech.

I’m about to sell my basement flat in Wisbech.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 managing agents 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 am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Wisbech where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Wisbech conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Wisbech charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech.

A minority of Wisbech leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Wisbech home move. Where a duplicate share is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £125000 maisonette in Wisbech next week. The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Wisbech?

Wisbech conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times necessitates fees being invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Wisbech
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Wisbech leasehold property is £350. For Wisbech 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 am the registered owner of a basement flat in Wisbech, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2003. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding flats in Wisbech with an extended lease are worth £210,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2089

With only 63 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £14,300 and £16,400 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Wisbech