I have recently realised that I have Seventy years left on my flat in Wisbech. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist may 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 both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Wisbech.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Wisbech. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. Strange as it may seem, 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Wisbech charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Wisbech leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Wisbech conveyancing deal. If a reissued share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £225000 maisonette in Wisbech in seven days. The freeholder has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Wisbech?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence 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 obliged to provide answers.

What are the frequently found defects that you see in leases for Wisbech properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Wisbech is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• 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. Birmingham Midshires, Skipton Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express 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, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I bought a ground floor flat in Wisbech, conveyancing was carried out in 1999. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Wisbech with over 90 years remaining are worth £248,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2089

You have 64 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £17,100 and £19,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Wisbech