I own a leasehold flat in Lea Bridge. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Lea Bridge who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Lea Bridge conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured 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 am attracted to a couple of apartments in Lea Bridge which have about fifty years remaining on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Lea Bridge. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this field

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Lea Bridge. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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 reputable estate agent office in Lea Bridge where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Lea Bridge conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 sit tight for 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 sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

After years of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Lea Bridge. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to decide the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Lea Bridge premises is 104 Nightingale Road in May 2009. The Tribunal's Decision is that the premium torbe paid for the enfranchisement in this case is £112,174 This case was in relation to 10 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 71.25 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Lea Bridge what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Lea Bridge. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. 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 premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements 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 withdraw.