My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Pentonville basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Pentonville conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Pentonville conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent from your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Pentonville. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The total extent of the premises. This will be the apartment itself but may include a roof space or cellar if appropriate.
• Defining your rights in respect of common areas in the building.E.G., does the lease grant a right of way over a path or hallways?
• Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• 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
• What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Pentonville which have about 50 years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Pentonville is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. The majority of purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Pentonville conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Pentonville where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Pentonville conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer 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 has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Pentonville with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Pentonville can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Pentonville leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you fail to have the consents to hand do not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Pentonville home move. Where a reissued share is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage 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 dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Pentonville. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Pentonville conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Pentonville residence is Flat 89 Trinity Court Grays Inn Road in February 2013. the Tribunal found that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 should be £36,229. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 66.8 years.

I bought a 1st floor flat in Pentonville, conveyancing having been completed 7 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent flats in Pentonville with an extended lease are worth £183,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2100

You have 74 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.