I have recently realised that I have 68 years unexpired on my flat in Radcliffe. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Radcliffe.

Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Radcliffe. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Setting out your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the block.By way of example, does the lease contain a right of way over a path or hallways?
• Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or having a home office for business
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Radcliffe.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I own a leasehold house in Radcliffe. Conveyancing and Halifax mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in Radcliffe who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a Radcliffe conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to finding a Radcliffe conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Radcliffe conveyancing firm) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non Radcliffe conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How familiar is the firm with lease extension legislation?
• How many lease extensions have they conducted in Radcliffe in the last 12 months?

I inherited a 2 bed flat in Radcliffe, conveyancing formalities finalised 10 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Radcliffe with over 90 years remaining are worth £270,000. The ground rent is £45 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2082

You have 56 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £29,500 and £34,000 as well as costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.