My husband and I may need to rent out our Fortis Green ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Fortis Green conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Fortis Green conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement apartment in Fortis Green.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 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 am looking at a two maisonettes in Fortis Green which have about fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Fortis Green. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Fortis Green from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Fortis Green can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Some Fortis Green leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a Fortis Green home move. Where a new share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £275000 maisonette in Fortis Green in 8 days. The managing agents has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Fortis Green?

Fortis Green conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes ordinarily involves administration charges invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Fortis Green
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Fortis Green leasehold premises is £350. For Fortis Green conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to supply the information.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without success. Can one apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Fortis Green conveyancing firm to assist?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Fortis Green premises is 21 St Matthews Court Coppetts Road in February 2013. the applicant applied to the Tribunal for a determination of the premium payable for a lease extension pursuant to Section 48 of the Leasehold Reform (Housing and Urban Development ) Act 1993. The tribunal therefore ordered that the premium was to be £13,267. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 68 years.