I wish to rent out my leasehold apartment in East Bedfont. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your previous East Bedfont conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I only have 62 years remaining on my flat in East Bedfont. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the lessor. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering East Bedfont.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in East Bedfont.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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 work for a busy estate agent office in East Bedfont where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local East Bedfont conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a East Bedfont conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a East Bedfont conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non East Bedfont conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm carried out in East Bedfont in the last year?

Following years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in East Bedfont. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a East Bedfont conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a East Bedfont property is 147 Redford Close in June 2012. The Tribunal determined the lease extension premium to be at £4,200 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 82.93 years.