Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Shooter's Hill. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Shooter's Hill should include some of the following:

• You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

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

Responsibility for repairing the window frames

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Shooter's Hill please enquire of your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Shooter's Hill

I work for a long established estate agency in Shooter's Hill where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Shooter's Hill conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a Shooter's Hill conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Shooter's Hill conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you speak with several firms including non Shooter's Hill conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?

What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in Shooter's Hill in the last twenty four months?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Shooter's Hill from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shooter's Hill can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Shooter's Hill state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you dont have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer first.

A minority of Shooter's Hill leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Shooter's Hill conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £275000 maisonette in Shooter's Hill in seven days. The managing agents has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Shooter's Hill?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Shooter's Hill conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Shooter's Hill
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Shooter's Hill leasehold property is £350. For Shooter's Hill 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 required to supply the information.

Having spent months of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Shooter's Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to judgment on the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Shooter's Hill flat is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case related to 1 flat.