I would like to rent out my leasehold apartment in North Sheen. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your previous North Sheen conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in North Sheen.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have since discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a house with a leasehold title in North Sheen. Conveyancing lawyers have are soon to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in North Sheen are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in North Sheen so you should seriously consider looking for a North Sheen conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a contribution towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in North Sheen where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local North Sheen conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in North Sheen from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in North Sheen can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in North Sheen levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for 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 cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in North Sheen.
• 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 put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a lengthy formality and delays many a North Sheen conveyancing deal. If a duplicate share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Having spent years of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in North Sheen. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a North Sheen residence is Flat 1 30 Ennismore Avenue in September 2010. the Tribunal adopted and arrived at a premium for the lease extension of £29, 900 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 68.34 years.

I invested in buying a ground floor flat in North Sheen, conveyancing having been completed 3 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in North Sheen with a long lease are worth £201,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2087

With only 61 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £20,000 and £23,000 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.