I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Ruislip. Before diving in I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in Ruislip - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Ruislip.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

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 managing agents 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Ruislip. Do I have any liability for 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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Ruislip conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Ruislip conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you speak with several firms including non Ruislip conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• How many lease extensions has the firm completed in Ruislip in the last year?
• What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 500000 maisonette in Ruislip on Wednesday in a week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Ruislip?

Ruislip conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not involves the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be content to assist. They may levy a reasonable charge for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have little option but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent years of correspondence we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Ruislip. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

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 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to decide the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Ruislip flat is Flat 72 Queens Walk in January 2013. The Tribunals calculated the premium payable to be £22,090. This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 53.26 years.

Ruislip Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? Please note if it is no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the property. Check with your bank that they are content with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably require a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out how much this would cost. For most Ruisliplease extensions you will be required to have owned the property for two years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.