I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Botany Bay. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Botany Bay - 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.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Botany Bay.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Botany Bay where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Botany Bay conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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 need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Botany Bay from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Botany Bay can be reduced where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in Botany Bay charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Botany Bay.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Botany Bay leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.
• Some Botany Bay leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Botany Bay home move. If a duplicate share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Having spent months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Botany Bay. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to determine the premium.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Botany Bay property is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 70.31 years.

What makes a Botany Bay lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Botany Bay. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , The Mortgage Works, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I own a basement flat in Botany Bay, conveyancing was carried out in 1996. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Botany Bay with a long lease are worth £179,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2097

With only 71 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £12,400 and £14,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.