Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Hampstead basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Hampstead conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed 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?

Your lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will set out if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Hampstead do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Looking forward to complete next month on a studio apartment in Hampstead. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
• Are pets allowed in the flat?
• Does the lease prevent you from subletting the flat, or working from home
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Hampstead please enquire of your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Hampstead

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Hampstead where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Hampstead conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Hampstead leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.
• Some Hampstead leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Hampstead conveyancing deal. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Completion in due on our sale of a £ 425000 garden flat in Hampstead next week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Hampstead?

Hampstead conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves administration charges levied by management companies :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Hampstead
• 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 Hampstead leasehold property is £350. For Hampstead 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 provide answers.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Hampstead. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hampstead property is Raised Ground Floor Flat 20 Fitzjohns Avenue in July 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premiums to be paid for new leases in respect of the Raised Ground Floor Flat and the First Floor Flat were to be calculated as: Raised Ground Floor: £765,175.14 First Floor: £601,617.77 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 16.83 and 16.43.

I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Hampstead, conveyancing was carried out 10 years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in Hampstead with a long lease are worth £258,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2080

You have 54 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £28,500 and £33,000 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.