Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in Gunnislake. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. 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 submit an application to the County Court for for permission 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 demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Gunnislake.

I have just started marketing my garden apartment in Gunnislake.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice 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 until 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in Gunnislake. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Gunnislake who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Gunnislake conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a two apartments in Gunnislake both have about 50 years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Gunnislake is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the value of the property. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Gunnislake conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Gunnislake from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Gunnislake can be avoided where you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Gunnislake leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in the first instance.

Gunnislake Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Many Gunnislake leasehold properties will have a service bill for the upkeep of the building set by the landlord. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments during the year. This can be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a rentcharge to be met annual, normally this is not a large sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds. You should be aware if it is fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to lend given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this will be. For most Gunnislakelease extensions you will need to own the property for a couple of years before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension. Best to be warned if window replacement or some other significant cost is anticipated to be shared between the leaseholders and could well dramatically impact the level of the maintenance fees or necessitate a one off payment.

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Lease Extensions in Gunnislake