Legal Expert Column: I have a missing Landlord and want to extend my lease of my flat. What should I do?
This Q & A was first published in Absolutely City & Angel Magazine, January 2014. Property Partners Andrew Flint and Hema Anand have a regular legal expert column in the magazine to answer questions on residential property.
Question
I have a missing Landlord and want to extend my lease of my flat. What should I do?
Answer
You do not say on what basis the Landlord is said to be missing or cannot be found. Assuming you meet the qualifying criterion set out in the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993, you may be able to extend your lease.
You will need to show that you have made reasonable efforts to locate the Landlord which may include placing adverts in newspapers in the vicinity of the last known address of the Landlord and your flat, making enquiries of the Land Registry or Companies House as the case maybe, possibly employing a search agent and so forth. I am assuming that the Landlord is alive.
On the basis therefore that you have established that the Landlord cannot be found or is missing, an application is made to the County Court to assess if whether or not you are entitled to a lease term extension and is satisfied that reasonable efforts have been made to locate the Landlord. If so, the County Court will refer the matter to the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) who shall essentially be responsible for deciding how much should be paid for the lease term extension. The matter is then referred back to the County Court who shall execute the paperwork and accept the payment on behalf of the Landlord.