My husband and I may need to let out our Bexleyheath 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Bexleyheath conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Bexleyheath do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold flat in Bexleyheath. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Bexleyheath who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Bexleyheath conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Bexleyheath where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Bexleyheath conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Bexleyheath from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bexleyheath can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Bexleyheath leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
• A minority of Bexleyheath leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate can be a time consuming formality and slows down many a Bexleyheath conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 275000 apartment in Bexleyheath next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Bexleyheath?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Bexleyheath conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Bexleyheath
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Bexleyheath leasehold premises is £350. For Bexleyheath conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to provide the information.

After months of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Bexleyheath. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Bexleyheath conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Bexleyheath premises is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The unexpired lease term was 76 years.

I purchased a 1st floor flat in Bexleyheath, conveyancing was carried out in 2010. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Bexleyheath with an extended lease are worth £195,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2082

With only 56 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £26,600 and £30,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.