There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Yelverton. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

If 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 Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Yelverton.

I've found a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Yelverton. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Yelverton are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Yelverton so you should seriously consider looking for a Yelverton conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Yelverton where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Yelverton conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser 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 needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Yelverton from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Yelverton can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Yelverton state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. If you dont have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor before hand.

Some Yelverton leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £500000 flat in Yelverton in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Yelverton?

For most leasehold sales in Yelverton conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

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

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Yelverton leasehold premises is £350. For Yelverton 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 supply the information.

Yelverton Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

On the whole the outlay for major works are not built into the maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Yelverton ask tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger works. Best to be warned if redecorating or some other significant cost is due shortly to be shared by the tenants and will dramatically impact the level of the maintenance costs or result in a specific payment. Does this lease have in excess of 85 years unexpired?

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Lease Extensions in Yelverton