Lease extension- How long???

Tabitharocks

I am in the process of buying a property (first time buyer).  I am buying a share of the freehold but the lease on the flat has run under 70 years so needs to be extended.  The seller has agreed to cover the costs for this.  My solicitor has requested a draft lease extension as one of the enquiries.  We have received all answers to other enquiries other than the request for a draft lease extension.  It has now been a month since this was requested, should I be concerned?
I am wondering how long this process will take and if anyone has any prior experience of this.  I am currently living in temporary accommodation and most of my stuff is in storage so it would be nice to get an idea of how long I should expect to wait.  My solicitor is refusing to give me timescales and has asked me to now chase the seller's solicitor.  I don't want to annoy people by constantly chasing if its going to take 6 months!
Can the exchange/completion once this draft lease extension is received?  Or will I have to wait for it to be registered at the LR?  
Just for info, the seller owns one half of the freehold and is the director of the management company for the building.  
Thanks!

cattie

Your solicitor certainly shouldn't be asking you to chase vendor's solicitor. This is what you pay them for, so no need to ask you to do their job for them! That said it wouldn't hurt for you to mention things to the ea who can then get on to vendor to see if they can chivvy their solicitor along to ensure things are progressing at a respectable speed & to make them aware of any delays.

Tabitharocks

cattie said:

Your solicitor certainly shouldn't be asking you to chase vendor's solicitor. This is what you pay them for, so no need to ask you to do their job for them! That said it wouldn't hurt for you to mention things to the ea who can then get on to vendor to see if they can chivvy their solicitor along to ensure things are progressing at a respectable speed & to make them aware of any delays.

Yes I thought as much, it was a pretty shirty email and I honestly thought it was their job to move things along.  Im just not sure whether I am being impatient and the process takes a long time or whether I should keep chasing... 

eddddy

In terms of timescales for getting a draft, a solicitor who deals with lease extensions will have a template, and it would take a few minutes to type in the names, details etc.

So possible reasons for the delay might include...

• The other joint freeholder is refusing to cooperate
• The seller hasn't instructed their solicitor to prepare a lease extension deed
• The seller's solicitor is purely a conveyancing solicitor who won't deal with lease extensions. So the seller has to look for a second solicitor

If the EA is competent and understands lease extensions, you can ask the EA to phone the seller to find out what the problem is.

Or you could try contacting the seller yourself - but if the seller doesn't really understand lease extensions etc, it may be difficult to get helpful answers.

Tabitharocks

eddddy said:

In terms of timescales for getting a draft, a solicitor who deals with lease extensions will have a template, and it would take a few minutes to type in the names, details etc.

So possible reasons for the delay might include...

• The other joint freeholder is refusing to cooperate
• The seller hasn't instructed their solicitor to prepare a lease extension deed
• The seller's solicitor is purely a conveyancing solicitor who won't deal with lease extensions. So the seller has to look for a second solicitor

If the EA is competent and understands lease extensions, you can ask the EA to phone the seller to find out what the problem is.

Or you could try contacting the seller yourself - but if the seller doesn't really understand lease extensions etc, it may be difficult to get helpful answers.

Hi,
The seller emailed me two weeks ago to say his solicitor has been instructed and is drafting the lease extension and it should be completed shortly (this was on the 16th Oct).  So my concern is why the delay if it was over two weeks ago and is simply a template.  Would the other freeholder needed to be informed or have input on the draft?  

eddddy

Tabitharocks said:

eddddy said:

In terms of timescales for getting a draft, a solicitor who deals with lease extensions will have a template, and it would take a few minutes to type in the names, details etc.

So possible reasons for the delay might include...

• The other joint freeholder is refusing to cooperate
• The seller hasn't instructed their solicitor to prepare a lease extension deed
• The seller's solicitor is purely a conveyancing solicitor who won't deal with lease extensions. So the seller has to look for a second solicitor

If the EA is competent and understands lease extensions, you can ask the EA to phone the seller to find out what the problem is.

Or you could try contacting the seller yourself - but if the seller doesn't really understand lease extensions etc, it may be difficult to get helpful answers.

Hi,
The seller emailed me two weeks ago to say his solicitor has been instructed and is drafting the lease extension and it should be completed shortly (this was on the 16th Oct).  So my concern is why the delay if it was over two weeks ago and is simply a template.  Would the other freeholder needed to be informed or have input on the draft?  

The other joint freeholder will be required to sign it - so it might be sensible to show it to him/her before sending it to your solicitor.

And the other joint freeholder might be wondering "Why do I have to sign this?" and/or "What's in it for me?" etc. ("Can I get a big chunk of cash for agreeing to the lease extension?")


TBH, the joint freeholders probably aren't very 'savvy' because they failed to get the leases extended when they bought the freehold - by the solicitor who handled the freehold purchase.

They should have realised that failing to do that would cause pain, delay and extra expense when they need to sell.

NameUnavailable

The other freeholder could indeed ask for financial or other compensation for agreeing to the lease extension. I have heard agents selling shared freehold properties with short leases say many times 'it's just a case of getting a solicior to issue you a new lease' - it's not! It's no different to any other lease extension in effect (although as the other party will probably need a similar extension in the future they would be daft to cause problems now).

Tabitharocks

So essentially, I will have to wait as the other freeholder needs to approve etc?  'I was told it was literally 'just a case of getting a solicitor to issue a new lease...'
Im looking at more than a month arent I?  How depressing.

NameUnavailable

I guess it all depends on the other parties attitude. They might just sign/agree or they might demand a formal valuation etc., and payment for the extension.

eddddy

Tabitharocks said:

Im looking at more than a month arent I?  How depressing.

If the joint freeholder is the problem - it's not a question of time, it's a question of attitude.

If the joint freeholder doesn't want to sign today, what might change his/her mind next month to persuade them to sign?

The joint freeholder might have no intention of signing a lease extension deed - ever.

That's really why you (or the EA) need to contact the seller, to find out what's happening.