My husband and I may need to rent out our Goodmayes basement flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Goodmayes conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Goodmayes do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Goodmayes. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Goodmayes who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Goodmayes conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Goodmayes. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Goodmayes where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Goodmayes conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that 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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 125000 flat in Goodmayes in six days. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Goodmayes?

Goodmayes conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically involves fees being levied by management companies :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Goodmayes
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Goodmayes leasehold property is £350. For Goodmayes 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 answers.

Having spent years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Goodmayes. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Goodmayes conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Goodmayes property is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 61.36 years.

I acquired a ground floor flat in Goodmayes, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Goodmayes with a long lease are worth £190,000. The ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2090

You have 64 years unexpired the likely cost is going to be between £17,100 and £19,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.