Solicitor misses date for statutory process of lease extension

da_rule

sharon31 wrote: »

Thank you for your responses. I’ll try to answer your questions below.
I always responded by return and have spent months waiting for the freeholder to reply, via our solicitors.
In the middle of informal negotiations, I received an email from my solicitor apologising that I would have needed to make an application to the first tier Leasehold property tribunal, 6 months from when the freeholder served their original counter notice. My solicitor had not noted this date or advised me of it, so it was missed.
We continued to try and come to an informal agreement, but the freeholder’s offer then increased, even including a cost for me to pay their capital gains tax.
They also rejected the original request to add 90 years to the existing lease of 79 years, offering a new lease of just 125 years and the ground rent to remain the same, rather than a peppercorn rate.
Yes, my solicitor was responsible for the whole process.
This is very much unchartered territory for me, so please bare with me if my information is unclear. I really appreciate all your time and help and will do my best to give as much information as I can. I just don’t know what to do now. Thank you all x

This appears to be your problem, you've been going down the informal route. In doing so, your freeholder has (understandably if somewhat cynically) delayed matters so that your lease term goes below 80 years. As such, even when you use the formal route they will be entitled to receive a share of the marriage value.

Op, you really need to confirm whether the statutory notice was served. As, if these were informal negotiations then:
1) The landlord could negotiate on the new term and ground rent, which they appear to have done (they could not do this using the statutory route);
2) There is no time limit for negotiations (other than maybe your solicitor warning you of the risks in letting your lease drop below 80 years before serving a statutory notice);
3) You could not have gone to the tribunal anyway, they only have jurisdiction in cases where a statutory notice has been served.

Also, as a side note, it is somewhat irregular to use an estate agent for the valuation. I may be doing them a disservice, nut most estate agents are not RICS qualified. The lease extension calculation is somewhat complex, and, a tribunal is not likely to give much regard to an unqualified valuation.

sharon31_2

Thank you for your continued comments, it really helps me gain perspective on something I’m certainly out of my depth with.