Back In 2000, I bought a leasehold house in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Conveyancing and Britannia mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Hampstead Garden Suburb who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Hampstead Garden Suburb where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process 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 start 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 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Hampstead Garden Suburb state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. If you fail to have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.

After months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Hampstead Garden Suburb. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Hampstead Garden Suburb flat is FFF, 37 and Garage 1, Queensborough Court North Circular Road in September 2012. The Tribunal determined that the premium for the lease extension should be £67,037 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 23.66 years.

What makes a Hampstead Garden Suburb lease unmortgageable?

Leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• 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

You will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Leeds Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to withdraw.