Formal Lease Extension

Becks12

I'm in the process of formally extended my lease. The terms were agreed in late December so we're approaching the deadline to complete.
The only outstanding issue is the Directors of the Management Company have not signed the lease. The Management Company were given the lease in mid February by my solicitor who has been chasing since. I have also been chasing the Management Company now who have said its with the Director who is out of the country so there's nothing they can do. 
My Solicitor has said if we don't get it back next week then we're not going to complete on time. I know legally we have to complete in four months. Has anyone ever had this situation or got any suggestions? 
I have tried contacting the Directors myself via email given the urgency (I used to be one so have their contact details) and this hasn't had a response. I don't know when they were actually passed the document for signing so don't want to hound them. It's so frustrating as this is my second attempt at a lease extension so I've already spent alot of money. 

eddddy

Why does the management company have to sign the lease?  Are they the freeholders as well?  With a 'typical' lease it's just the freeholder and leaseholder who sign.

Or is it because it's a tri-partite lease - i.e. between 3 parties, the leaseholder, the freeholder and the management company?



My general understanding is as follows:

• You have a legal right to get your lease extension (under the terms of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993) so the other parties to the lease are required by law to grant it.

• So if a party is refusing to grant it (by not signing), you can apply for a court order from the county court, requiring them to sign it. And you have to get the claim papers to court before the 4 months is up.  (As long as the claim is served within the 4 months, you are ok.)

But ask your solicitor about this - don't rely on what I say.

In my experience, a regular 'lease extension' solicitor might not be familiar with applying for court orders. I had to use a separate litigation solicitor - who liaised with the lease extension solicitor.

Unfortunately, you'll have an extra chunk of legal fees to pay - which you probably won't get back.  

Most importantly - what is your solicitor recommending you do?

Becks12

Thanks for responding. My understanding is that it needs to be signed by me, a director of the management company and also the freeholder. Am unsure of the technicalities as to why. 
My solicitor has said we'll look at the other options next week, I'm just trying to find out a bit more about it now as understandably it's on my mind. 
I've used Homehold to manage the process (recommended on here) so have their solicitors acting for me at this point. From their website it does look like I'm going to need to pay a lot more for court fees and additional representation which isn't ideal but it's better than starting the process again. 

Jonboy_1984

Not sure on the technicalities, but our lease extension a couple of years ago was signed by the three parties as above.

It was someone from the management agent who was also registered as a director of the management company that signed, and they wouldn’t do anything without their fees being paid beforehand.