I am hoping to complete next month on a studio apartment in Brent Park. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.
• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
• You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a reasonable figure which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Brent Park. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Brent Park ?

The majority of houses in Brent Park are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Brent Park so you should seriously consider looking for a Brent Park conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions such as requiring the freeholder’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your conveyancer should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Brent Park where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Brent Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as 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. 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 before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

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

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Brent Park can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• A minority of Brent Park leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming process and frustrates many a Brent Park conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £ 200000 garden flat in Brent Park in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Brent Park?

Brent Park conveyancing on leasehold flats usually necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They may charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

After months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Brent Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to arrive at the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Brent Park premises 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 affected 5 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 73.14 years.

I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Brent Park, conveyancing was carried out 10 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Brent Park with an extended lease are worth £184,000. The ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease expires on 21st October 2106

With just 80 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.