I only have Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Maidenhead. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

If 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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Maidenhead.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Maidenhead.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge 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 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in Maidenhead. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Maidenhead who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Maidenhead conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Maidenhead. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 ensure 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).

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

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Maidenhead can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Maidenhead charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Maidenhead.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Maidenhead state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the approvals to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Maidenhead Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Plenty Maidenhead leasehold properties will have a service charge for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the freeholder. If you acquire the flat you will have to meet this contribution, usually in instalments throughout the year. This could be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large amount, say about £50-£100 but you should to check it because occasionally it can be surprisingly expensive.