lease extensions

L Block

Hello all,

Im really hoping one of you can help me out on this rather stressful situation I found myself in. basically I have a leasehold flat, and will soon be starting the process of extending the lease .

Firstly, I have an absentee freeholder, so will have to go through the courts, however my main concern is this – I live in a flat (there are two – including mine), therefore am I able to extend the lease on just my flat or will both be extended at the same time

Your replies will be very much appreciated

[Deleted User]

oh land law. nice. this is not my speciality area of law but i would suggest the following is possible.

if you go to Court you are basically asking for the freehold interest to be returned to the Crown initally i believe? one method is then to arrange with your neighbor to purchase the freehold together.

i did find the following information which is correct and seems to deal with your query exactly

http://www.enfranchisementsolicitors.co.uk/uncategorized/applying-for-lease-extensions-with-an-absentee-freeholder/

MrLargo

Pretty sure that the length of the other flat's lease has no bearing on yours, so you would be able to extend your lease independently. However, I would imaging the legal costs you are going to incur (due to having to deal with the absentee freeholder situation) will be quite high. Obviously depends on your relationship with the other flat owner, but would imagine you could save some money by getting a solicitor to act on behalf of both of you. Also, have you considered trying to acquire the freehold, rather than just extending the lease?

[Deleted User]

exactly. if your going to go through the process, then why not go for the freehold - i am pretty sure that wouldnt be more onerous than extending the lease, the real difficulty is proving the absentee but once done you can ask for a vesting of the freehold, and as MrLargo says, far more cost effective to do that on a joint basis with your neighbor

L Block

thank you all for you help. the only reason im worrying about this is because my neighbour is the most ignorant horrible human being you are ever likely to meet and is currently very ill herself (as well as looking after her husband who is currently in a home).

i advised her two years ago regarding the lease situation and how much it is likely to cost - her response was basically 'not bothered'. im pretty sure that her opinion hasnt changed.

therefore, if it was the case that both flat owners (leaseholders) had to extend the lease together, i would be screwed as she would be unco-operative. my only other option would be to put the flat on the market and hope for the best

oh and re: purchasing the freehold, im pretty certain that if you go via the court (vesting order) you do basically end up purchasing the freehold.

MrLargo

Sorry to hear that. However, apart from possibly making the process a bit more expensive for you I don't see why your neighbour's lack of interest/cooperation should be problematic. It may even work in your favour, in that I would imagine you'll end up as the new freeholder of the entire building (rather than just having a share of the freehold), and will therefore be able to have greater control over repairs and maintenance to the building.

Not an expert on this by any means, but there's loads of information on the internet and most of it is not as daunting to read as you might think. I would also suggest talking to http://www.lease-advice.org/ .

Boom

You can just extend the leasehold on your flat - nowt to do with your miserable neighbour. I extended the lease on a flat I rent out. Think it cost about £6k plus legal fees. Obviously that went to the freeholder so not sure how it works with an absent freeholder.

PopIcon

How long do you have left on your lease? The length that your neighbours have on theirs will affect who pays what percentage if you share the leasehold. I brought mine out last year, fortunately our previous owners had extended the lease, so I had 99 years. The elderly neighbour had not extended hers and had less than 50 years, she was therefore subjected to a bigger percentage to pay than us. It is quite complicated, so you will need to seek professional advice. I'll happy pass on the contact info of our solicitor should you need it.

When you say absent freeholder, do you mean that you don't know who actually owns the land?

L Block

PopIcon said:

How long do you have left on your lease? The length that your neighbours have on theirs will affect who pays what percentage if you share the leasehold. I brought mine out last year, fortunately our previous owners had extended the lease, so I had 99 years. The elderly neighbour had not extended hers and had less than 50 years, she was therefore subjected to a bigger percentage to pay than us. It is quite complicated, so you will need to seek professional advice. I'll happy pass on the contact info of our solicitor should you need it.

When you say absent freeholder, do you mean that you don't know who actually owns the land?

i currently have 73 years left on my lease. Having read the freehold register, the lease on both flats started on the same day. Ive known for over two years that it will cost quite a bit (and roughly how much), therefore I have been able to save a substantial amount of money, which im hoping will cover it.

i have a name and address for the freeholder, however the register has not been updated for a few years with up to date details. having done some research it does look like the fh may have passed away. She definitely does not live at the address stated in the register, so I am unable to contact her (if alive).

Even if she is still alive, it seems she have never really taken their role seriously i.e. never charged maintenance charges/ ground rent, never checked up with myself or my neighbour that insurance is in place. Basically its like she just washed her hands with it all

Just want to get it all sorted asap as im getting rather stressed about it. Have already instructed a surveyor to look at the flat next week and im currently choosing between two solicitors to act on my behalf.

Jints

Boom said:

You can just extend the leasehold on your flat - nowt to do with your miserable neighbour. I extended the lease on a flat I rent out. Think it cost about £6k plus legal fees. Obviously that went to the freeholder so not sure how it works with an absent freeholder.

Will depend on how long is left on the lease and how much more valuable it is (or how less valuable the freehold is) with the extension in place.

You will need to show that the freeholder is untraceable. May be quickest to get a report from an enquiry agent.

Athletico Charlton

you can extend your lease without your neighbour. I think i am right in saying you can also enfranchise and buy the freehold as you only need 50% of the flats to do this and being only 2 flats, hey presto.

I would look into both if i were you.

Clem_Snide

These people are very good.

http://Www.lease-advice.org/

Bournemouth Addick

Clem_Snide said:

These people are very good.

http://Www.lease-advice.org/

Indeed they are. I was in a very similar situation to yourself, with an absentee freeholder and reluctantly started to go down the same route. I was lucky in the end that I found the fecker living about two streets away after about 2 years looking. My suggestion would be to do everything you can to find them you can because, if I remember rightly, you do have to show the court what steps you've taken as part of the process.