My wife and I may need to sub-let our Gipsy Hill 1st floor flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Gipsy Hill conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Gipsy Hill do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

I work for a long established estate agent office in Gipsy Hill where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Gipsy Hill conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Gipsy Hill conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Gipsy Hill conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Gipsy Hill conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• Can they put you in touch with client in Gipsy Hill who can give a testimonial?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill can be reduced if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Gipsy Hill levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Gipsy Hill.
• A minority of Gipsy Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a lengthy formality and delays many a Gipsy Hill home move. If a new share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 425000 garden flat in Gipsy Hill in seven days. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Gipsy Hill?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Gipsy Hill conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Gipsy Hill
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Gipsy Hill leasehold property is £350. For Gipsy Hill 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 obliged to supply answers.

Having spent years of dialogue we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Gipsy Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Gipsy Hill conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Gipsy Hill residence is Flat 1 4 Border Crescent in March 2012. the Tribunal decided that the sum payable by the Applicants to the Respondent in respect of the new lease for the subject property should be £11,616.00 (ElevenThousand and Six Hundred and Sixteen Pounds) This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 72.04 years.

Gipsy Hill Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Can you inform me if there are any major works in the planning that will add a premium to the maintenance fees? Who are the managing agents? The answer will be useful as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may begin to deteriorate where repairs remain unpaid b) if the tenants have an issue with the managing agents you will want to know about it