I have recently realised that I have Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Southend. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Southend.

Back In 2005, I bought a leasehold flat in Southend. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Southend who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

First contact HMLR to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Southend conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Southend which have about fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Southend. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Southend where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Southend conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to 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 to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £475000 flat in Southend on Thursday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Southend?

Southend conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some transactions it exceeds £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

After months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southend. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price payable.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Southend flat is 75 Woolstone Road in February 2012. the decision of the Tribunal was that the appropriate amount to be paid to purchase the freehold was the sum of £17,711 . This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 68.28 and 158.