Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Dollis Hill. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Dollis Hill - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

My wife and I may need to sub-let our Dollis Hill garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Dollis Hill conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Dollis Hill conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have recently realised that I have Seventy years remaining on my flat in Dollis Hill. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist should be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Dollis Hill.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Dollis Hill. Conveyancing and Platform Home Loans Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Dollis Hill who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Dollis Hill conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Dollis Hill from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Dollis Hill can be reduced where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Dollis Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Dollis Hill.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Dollis Hill leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
• Some Dollis Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

Having spent months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Dollis Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Dollis Hill conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Dollis Hill residence is 12 & 12A Deacon Road in May 2010. the Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the freehold should be £38,287 This case affected 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 65.58 years.

I purchased a 2 bed flat in Dollis Hill, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2011. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Equivalent flats in Dollis Hill with an extended lease are worth £261,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2076

You have 50 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £39,000 and £45,000 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.