My fiance and I may need to rent out our Hatch End 1st floor flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Hatch End conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Hatch End do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to 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.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Hatch End. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Hatch End who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Hatch End conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Hatch End. Do I have any liability for 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. 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 employed by a long established estate agency in Hatch End where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hatch End conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with 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.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such matters? Can you recommend a Hatch End conveyancing firm to represent me?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to determine the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hatch End property is Flats 8, 11 and 15 Craigmore Court 46 Murray Road in December 2013. The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenant of Flat 8 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,438 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee . The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenants of Flat 11 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,791 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee. The tribunal held that the price payable by the Applicant tenant of Flat 15 to acquire an extended lease shall be £26,638 plus £1 to the intermediate lessee . This case was in relation to 3 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 71 years.

Are there common deficiencies that you encounter in leases for Hatch End properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Hatch End is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You may have 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, Barnsley Building Society, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Hatch End - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Many Hatch End leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for the upkeep of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. Should you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large common areas. In all probability there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire it because occasionally it can be prohibitively expensive.