My husband and I may need to sub-let our Kentish Town 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Kentish Town conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your last Kentish Town conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you must seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Kentish Town. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

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

The sensible thing to do is clear the invoice 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 management companies 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Kentish Town. Conveyancing and Yorkshire Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing practitioner in Kentish Town who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Kentish Town conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. 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 am employed by a busy estate agent office in Kentish Town where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Kentish Town conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as 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 can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Following months of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Kentish Town. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to calculate the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Kentish Town property is Flat 2 27 Mackeson Road in December 2012. The Tribunal assessed the value of the lease extension premium at £35,435 and rounded the figure to £35,500 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 64.77 years.

I inherited a 1st floor flat in Kentish Town, conveyancing formalities finalised 2012. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Kentish Town with an extended lease are worth £233,000. The ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2098

With only 72 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.