There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Sunningdale. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Sunningdale.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Sunningdale.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is 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 today plan to offer on a house that seems to tick a lot of boxes, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have just found out that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in Sunningdale. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Sunningdale are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Sunningdale in which case you should be looking for a Sunningdale conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in transacting 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 at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the freeholder’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

I own a leasehold flat in Sunningdale. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage organised. 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 Sunningdale who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Sunningdale conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Sunningdale. 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).

Sunningdale Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. The majority of Sunningdale leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building levied by the freeholder. If you acquire the property you will have to meet this charge, usually periodically accross the year. This can be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant sum, say around £50-£100 but you should to check as on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sunningdale