Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Woburn. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Woburn.

Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Woburn. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Woburn should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
• You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Woburn.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge the service charge 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in Woburn. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Woburn are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Woburn so you should seriously consider looking for a Woburn conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’sconsent to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 425000 apartment in Woburn on Friday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Woburn?

Woburn conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes often involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled levy a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Woburn - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Does the lease have more than 85 years left? If a Woburn lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the flat. Check with your lender that they are content with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to exercise a lease extension.