My wife and I may need to rent out our Golders Green 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Golders Green conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Golders Green do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years left on my flat in Golders Green. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

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 an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Golders Green.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Golders Green where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Golders Green conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 sale.

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.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 375000 apartment in Golders Green next Monday . The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Golders Green?

Golders Green conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally involves the buyer’s lawyer submitting enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer such questions most will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the charge is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

Following years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Golders Green. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Golders Green conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Golders Green premises is Flat A 372 Cricklewood Lane in January 2013. The Tribunal decided that the premium for the extended lease should be £5,750.00 and that the terms of the new lease should be those set out in annex to the decsion This case affected 1 flat.

Are there common deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Golders Green properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Golders Green is not unique. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, The Mortgage Works, and Britannia all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Golders Green - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

It is important to be aware if a new roof is being put on or some other major work is coming up to be shared amongst the tenants and could well dramatically impact the level of the service costs or result in a one time invoice.