I would like to let out my leasehold apartment in Hillingdon. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your last Hillingdon conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Hillingdon. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 work for a long established estate agency in Hillingdon where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Hillingdon conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner 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 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 at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Hillingdon from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Hillingdon can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Hillingdon state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. Should you dont have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.

Some Hillingdon leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 purchasers or their lawyers.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Hillingdon conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £250000 flat in Hillingdon in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Hillingdon?

For most leasehold sales in Hillingdon conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Hillingdon
• 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 Hillingdon leasehold property is £350. For Hillingdon 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 obliged to supply the information.

Despite our best endeavours, we have been unsuccessful in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in Hillingdon. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Hillingdon premises is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 69 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Hillingdon