Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years left on my lease in Buckingham. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

If 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 enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Buckingham.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Buckingham. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Buckingham who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Buckingham conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Buckingham where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Buckingham conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer need not have 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 prior to, 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 purchaser.

We expect to complete the sale of our £450000 maisonette in Buckingham next week. The management company has quoted £384 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Buckingham?

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

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Buckingham
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Buckingham leasehold property is £350. For Buckingham 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 answers.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Buckingham what are the most common lease problems?

Leasehold conveyancing in Buckingham is not unique. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• 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 primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Chelsea Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed 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 provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Buckingham Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider before buying

How much is the ground rent and service charge? Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? The majority of Buckingham leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the freeholder. If you buy the property you will have to pay this liability, usually periodically throughout the year. This could vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, ordinarily this is not a significant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to enquire as sometimes it can be prohibitively expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Buckingham