I want to let out my leasehold apartment in Queen's Park. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

A lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Queen's Park do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Queen's Park. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Queen's Park should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

The total extent of the premises. This will be the flat itself but may incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What you can do if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Queen's Park please ask your lawyer in advance of your conveyancing in Queen's Park

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Queen's Park where we have witnessed a few flat sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Queen's Park conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities 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 kick-start 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 has to be done before, or at the same time as 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Queen's Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Queen's Park can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• Some Queen's Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying 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 lawyers.

If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Queen's Park conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is below 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 premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £250000 flat in Queen's Park next Thursday . The landlords agents has quoted £312 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Queen's Park?

Queen's Park conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates administration charges raised by freeholders :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Queen's Park
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Queen's Park leasehold premises is £350. For Queen's Park 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 supply the information.

I am the leaseholder of a ground flat in Queen's Park. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Most definitely. We can put you in touch with a Queen's Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Queen's Park flat is 4 & 4A Charteris Road in June 2009. the Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the enfranchisement of 4/4a Charteris Road to be £15,510 for at 4and £15,694 for at 4a This case related to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 70.02 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Queen's Park