I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Southgate. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence 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 covering Southgate.

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Southgate.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2000, I bought a leasehold flat in Southgate. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Southgate who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Southgate conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured 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 work for a long established estate agent office in Southgate where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Southgate conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Southgate conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Southgate conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you make enquires with several firms including non Southgate conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Southgate who can give a testimonial?

Following years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southgate. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to assess the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Southgate premises is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 70.31 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Southgate