Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our Cockfosters garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Cockfosters conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Cockfosters conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek permission from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Cockfosters. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Cockfosters.

I’m about to sell my ground floor flat in Cockfosters.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 managing agents 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.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Cockfosters where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Cockfosters conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the sale of our £475000 garden flat in Cockfosters in 5 days. The managing agents has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Cockfosters?

Cockfosters conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally requires the buyer’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to such questions the majority will be content to do so. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent months of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Cockfosters. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to assess the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Cockfosters flat is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 70.31 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Cockfosters