Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Brunswick Park. Before I get started I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Brunswick Park - 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.

I only have Sixty One years left on my lease in Brunswick Park. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Brunswick Park.

I’m about to sell my ground floor apartment in Brunswick Park.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – what should I do?

It best that you pay 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Brunswick Park. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Brunswick Park where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Brunswick Park conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 needs to be completed prior to, 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.

I am the proprietor of a two-bedroom flat in Brunswick Park. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum payable for a lease extension?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Brunswick Park conveyancing firm who can help.

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

I bought a studio flat in Brunswick Park, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar properties in Brunswick Park with over 90 years remaining are worth £196,000. The ground rent is £60 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2102

With just 76 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be 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 without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.