I am intending to let out my leasehold apartment in Brent Park. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Notwithstanding that your previous Brent Park conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Brent Park.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge the invoice 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 work for a long established estate agency in Brent Park where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Brent Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can 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 start 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 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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Brent Park levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Brent Park state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Where you fail to have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Brent Park home move. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I inherited a first floor flat in Brent Park. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for the purchase of the freehold?

if there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Brent Park residence is 7 Craven Park in June 2009. The tribunal considered it unnecessary to value the garage as an independent investment or to value each flat separately, providing that the marriage value calculation uses only the participating flats. Accordingly, the price determined by the Tribunal was £41,140 This case was in relation to 5 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 73.14 years.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Santander, Chelsea Building Society, and Britannia all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Brent Park Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Who takes charge for maintaining and repairing the block?