Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years unexpired on my lease in Longford. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

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 enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Longford.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Longford. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Longford.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay 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 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Longford with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Longford can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Longford levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Longford.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Longford state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such alterations. Where you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer first.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Longford conveyancing deal. If a reissued share certificate is needed, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 400000 flat in Longford on Thursday in a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Longford?

Longford conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not requires the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

I am the proprietor of a garden flat in Longford. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for a lease extension?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to determine the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Longford property is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 69 years.

I acquired a 1st floor flat in Longford, conveyancing having been completed 2000. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Corresponding flats in Longford with a long lease are worth £234,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2095

With 69 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" 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 in the absence of detailed investigations. 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 taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.