Jane (my partner) and I may need to sub-let our Shacklewell garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Shacklewell conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Shacklewell conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a leasehold property in Shacklewell. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Shacklewell should include some of the following:

• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Shacklewell please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Shacklewell

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Shacklewell.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Shacklewell from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Shacklewell can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Shacklewell levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shacklewell.

Some Shacklewell leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge 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 are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Shacklewell conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is required, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £175000 maisonette in Shacklewell next Friday . The management company has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Shacklewell?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Shacklewell conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Shacklewell
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Shacklewell leasehold premises is £350. For Shacklewell 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 provide answers.

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

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Shacklewell residence is 5C Stoke Newington Road in April 2010. the Tribunal therefore concludes that the premium to be paid for the extended lease is £700.00 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 80.5 years.