Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years unexpired on my lease in Hampstead Garden Suburb. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Hampstead Garden Suburb.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Hampstead Garden Suburb.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing firm) 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 talk with several firms including non Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• How many lease extensions have they conducted in Hampstead Garden Suburb in the last year?

Can they put you in touch with client in Hampstead Garden Suburb who can give a testimonial?

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Hampstead Garden Suburb levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Hampstead Garden Suburb.

If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Hampstead Garden Suburb leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.

Some Hampstead Garden Suburb leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £425000 maisonette in Hampstead Garden Suburb on Wednesday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £336 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 Hampstead Garden Suburb?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Hampstead Garden Suburb
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Hampstead Garden Suburb leasehold property is £350. For Hampstead Garden Suburb 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.

After years of dialogue we are unable to 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 certainly. We can put you in touch with a Hampstead Garden Suburb conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Hampstead Garden Suburb property 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 unexpired term was 23.66 years.