Helen (my wife) and I may need to let out our Kidbrooke basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Kidbrooke conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Kidbrooke do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Kidbrooke. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation 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).

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kidbrooke from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kidbrooke can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Kidbrooke 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 pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kidbrooke.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Kidbrooke state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you fail to have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is below 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 400000 maisonette in Kidbrooke next week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Kidbrooke?

Kidbrooke conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily necessitates administration charges invoiced by managing agents :

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Kidbrooke
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Kidbrooke leasehold premises is £350. For Kidbrooke 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 provide the information.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Kidbrooke conveyancing firm to help?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a Kidbrooke conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Kidbrooke flat is 18 Handen Road in April 2013. On 26 October 2012 District Judge Zimmels sitting at the Lambeth County Court made a Vesting Order that the Applicants be granted the right to acquire the freehold upon such terms and at such price determined by the LVT. The Tribunal arrived a figure of £39,535 as a valuation for the enfranchisement. This case affected 3 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 69.05 years.

What are the frequently found deficiencies that you witness in leases for Kidbrooke properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Kidbrooke is not unique. All leases are unique and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• 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

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, The Mortgage Works, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I am the registered owner of a split level flat in Kidbrooke, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2010. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent flats in Kidbrooke with an extended lease are worth £191,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 invoiced every year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2105

You have 79 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.