Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years left on my lease in Grangetown. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove 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 to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Grangetown.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Grangetown. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Grangetown levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Grangetown state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Where you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.
• A minority of Grangetown leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a new share certificate is often a lengthy process and frustrates many a Grangetown conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 475000 maisonette in Grangetown next Wednesday . The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Grangetown?

Grangetown conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates fees being raised by landlords agents :

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Grangetown
• 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 Grangetown leasehold property is £350. For Grangetown 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Grangetown. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, Chelsea Building Society, and Nottingham Building Society all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

I own a 2 bed flat in Grangetown, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1996. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Grangetown with over 90 years remaining are worth £212,000. The ground rent is £60 yearly. The lease finishes on 21st October 2095

You have 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.