I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Aldborough Hatch. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and almost all are in Aldborough Hatch - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My husband and I may need to let out our Aldborough Hatch ground floor flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will say if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Aldborough Hatch do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

I’m about to sell my basement flat in Aldborough Hatch.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Aldborough Hatch. Conveyancing and Clydesdale mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Aldborough Hatch who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Aldborough Hatch conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Aldborough Hatch where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Aldborough Hatch conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Aldborough Hatch. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Aldborough Hatch residence is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 61.36 years.