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

A lease governs relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; specifically, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in North Woolwich do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

There are only 62 years unexpired on my flat in North Woolwich. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing North Woolwich.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement apartment in North Woolwich.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you discharge 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 tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in North Woolwich both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a right to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I've recently bought a leasehold property in North Woolwich. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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 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).

Following years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in North Woolwich. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

if there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a North Woolwich property is 46 Credon Road in January 2014. On 11 September 2013 Deputy District Judge Price sitting at the Bow County Court made a vesting order that the freeholder surrender his lease and be granted a new lease of the Premises on such terms as may be determined by the First Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber).The appropriate sum as concluded by the Tribunal was £7225 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.77 years.

North Woolwich Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

Its a good idea to find out as much as you can regarding the managing agents as they will either make living at the property much simpler or uncomfortable. As the owner of a leasehold property you are often in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to every day matters like the cleanliness of the common parts. You should not be shy to ask prospective neighbours what they think of them. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that the service fees are due to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds. On the whole the outlay for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that a few managing agents in North Woolwich obliged tenants to pay into a reserve fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance.