lease extension - problems with section 42 notice

smileykate_2

Hi all,
I hope I am posting this in the right place. I moved into a new flat last August and had several issues with my sellers' solicitors who were very slow to reply to any of my requests. The flat had 80 years left on the lease and before we exchanged contracts my solicitor clearly stated that I wasn't prepared to exchange until the seller served a Section 42 notice to the freeholder, allowing me to effectively extend the lease as soon as I completed.

Well, after several months of emailing my seller's solicitors (by me and my own solicitor) it looks like they prepared the notice and didn't actually serve it to the freeholder. Needless to say I am fuming (!) as this now means I'm not legally entitled to extend the lease and because they have taken so long to reply to everything the cost of the extension has already gone up and will keep going up until I am allowed to extend it.

Has anyone been in a similar situation or know what I can do to rectify this? My solictor emailed them immediately about this matter and has heard nothing after 2 weeks and is still chasing them.

Thanks in advance for any help people can give,
Katie

Jenniefour

Should your solicitor not have asked for proof that the notice had been served prior to exchange?

smileykate_2

I would have hoped so but obviously it seems not. Something is definitely not right, which is why I posted on here...trying to work out who is liable at the moment!

Richard_Webster

Normally sellers are not prepared to serve the notice until after exchange but then completion can be made conditional on the notice being served and the benefit of it being assigned. Therefore you would simply have refused to have completed if no notice was served.

Your solicitor should have checked this and therefore provided your instructions to him about requiring the notice as a precondition of proceeding were clear then he would be negligent, and liable to you for the losses involved in you having possibly to wait 2 years for an extension.

Of course if an informal approach to the landlord now produces favourable terms for an extension then you may have suffered no loss - so you need to check that point!

smileykate_2

Hi Richard,
Thanks for your reply. So, if I ask my freeholder for an extension and she agrees then I am still allowed to go ahead? Even if this is the case, I have still lost out because of waiting so long for the paper work to come through (i literally emailed almost every week asking for a copy of the section 42 notice as advised by the LAS and I didn't receive it until recently)...the lease is now 79 years which has increased the cost of extension by a couple of thousand pounds.
My solicitor is blaming the vendor's solicitor even though it seems as though it seems that his company is liable. I am completely lost as to who to complain to and how to go about it and I am really not in a position to fork out fees to another solicitor- help! What should be my next move?

Jenniefour

Your freeholder may be sympathetic to your case without any increase in the cost of extension - try that first, it could work out fine.

Richard_Webster

You can always ask for an extension - the landlord doesn't have to give one until you have owned flat for 2 yaers. It will be matter of evidence whether the amount you are required to pay is less or more than the amount required for a statutory extension if you went through the formal procedure.

Your solicitor should have made completion conditional on the notice being served and assigned to you. If it wasn't served then you shouldn't have completed so I can't really see how it is the other solicitor's fault.