Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Camden Town 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Camden Town conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Camden Town conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have recently realised that I have 72 years unexpired on my lease in Camden Town. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Camden Town.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Camden Town.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Camden Town with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Camden Town can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Some Camden Town 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 obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £450000 flat in Camden Town next week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Camden Town?

Camden Town conveyancing on leasehold apartments often requires the buyer’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be content to do so. They are at liberty invoice a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

I inherited a basement flat in Camden Town. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum due for a lease extension?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the price.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Camden Town property is Flat 120, Clare Court Judd Street in August 2013. the Tribunal held that the premium to be paid for the extension of the lease should be £64,650 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 62.79 years.