Lease Extension - Tenant

[mo999]

Hello all,

I hope someone can help me. I bought a flat and my solicitor had arranged to serve the lease extension notice before completion which was signed by the leaseholders solicitor. We have completed the purchase and my solicitor is dealing with the lease extension. The freeholders solicitor is looking for any reason to not proceed. He is now claiming that we need to show that the previous leaseholder had expressly authorised their solicitor to sign on behalf of the leaseholder. The solicitor had only received an email from their client authorising them.

My solicitor is saying this is acceptable, however the freeholders solicitor is saying this is not 'express authority'.

Can someone help with the rules and procedure for when the lease extension notice is signed on behalf of the leaseholder by their solicitor.

Thank you.

[Gordon999]

What is express authority ?

Better to make a complaint to the SRA and the Law Commission which is holding a public consultation

See item 10.3 in the free guide :

https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-...tting-started/

[mo999]

They are saying express means written and signed in wet ink. they are not even accepting emails. Do you know what the rules are with giving authority. Surely a solicitor can sign the notice if he has authority whether that authority is written or not.

[Gordon999]

Here is the view of another solicitor about serving notice by email but its not the same situation as your situation where the email is from you to your own solicitor :

https://www.landlordlawblog.co.uk/20...you-your-case/

[leaseholder64]

I believe, by default, the Law of Property Act 1925 applies, and many leases explicitly say that notices may be delivered by the means specified there. Not surprisingly, for a 1925 Act, email is not a valid option for formal notices.

[JK0]

It's a lot of nonsense. Presumably solicitor billed the lessee for the work? Then how would he be paid unless he had authority.

I would threaten freeloader with FTT.

[mo999]

Thank you for all your comments. Hopefully I will be able to challenge them. Thanks again everyone.

[vmart]

If the seller served a Section 42 notice at the time the lease was transferred to you then you should be entitled to apply for a statutory lease extension without waiting 2 years. As there is no prescribed format for a Section 42 I cannot see how the freeholder's solicitors point about 'expressly signed' is valid. Contact LEASE for advice.