I want to sublet my leasehold apartment in Lee. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your previous Lee conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Planning to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Lee. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

The physical extent of the demise. This will be the property itself but may incorporate a loft or cellar if appropriate.

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required

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 For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Lee please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Lee

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Lee which have approximately fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Lee. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Lee where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Lee conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser 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 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 buyer.

We expect to complete our sale of a £200000 apartment in Lee on Tuesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Lee?

Lee conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times involves administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Lee
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Lee leasehold premises is £350. For Lee 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.

Following months of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Lee. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the LVT to calculate the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Lee property 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 related to 3 flats. The unexpired lease term was 69.05 years.