I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Mill Hill. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Mill Hill - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Due to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Mill Hill. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Mill Hill should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may include a roof space or basement if applicable.
• Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or having a home office for business
• You need to be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• 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

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Mill Hill. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

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 am employed by a busy estate agent office in Mill Hill where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Mill Hill conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with 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 buyer.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Mill Hill with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Mill Hill can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Mill Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Mill Hill.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Mill Hill leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you dont have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer in the first instance.
• A minority of Mill Hill leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is below 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

After years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Mill Hill. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to make a decision on the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Mill Hill flat is Ground Floor Maisonette 17 Milton Road in January 2014. The Tribunal determined the premium payable by the Applicant to the should be £13,299 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 71.73 years.

I inherited a garden flat in Mill Hill, conveyancing was carried out 1996. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Mill Hill with over 90 years remaining are worth £173,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2095

With just 69 years left to run the likely cost is going to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. 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 taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.