I only have Sixty One years unexpired on my flat in North Woolwich. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

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 enable the lease to 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. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering North Woolwich.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to be perfect, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues purchasing a leasehold house in North Woolwich. Conveyancing solicitors have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in North Woolwich are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in North Woolwich in which case you should be looking for a North Woolwich conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they have experience in advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the freeholder’sconsent to conduct alterations. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is located on an estate. Your solicitor will report to you on the legal implications.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in North Woolwich. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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 be sure 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).

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in North Woolwich where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local North Woolwich conveyancing firms. Please can 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 buyer.

Completion in due on the sale of our £125000 apartment in North Woolwich on Thursday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in North Woolwich?

North Woolwich conveyancing on leasehold apartments more often than not involves the buyer’s solicitor sending 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 are at liberty levy a reasonable administration fee for responding to 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 summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is technically not due. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent months of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in North Woolwich. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a North Woolwich residence is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.77 years.