My partner and I may need to sub-let our South Hackney garden flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a South Hackney conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous South Hackney conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only Seventy years unexpired on my flat in South Hackney. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing South Hackney.

I have just started marketing my garden apartment in South Hackney.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in South Hackney from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Hackney can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? South Hackney leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Should you fail to have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer in the first instance.

A minority of South Hackney leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The 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 lawyers.

If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord 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 nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £175000 garden flat in South Hackney next week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in South Hackney?

South Hackney conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves fees being raised by managing agents :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in South Hackney
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for South Hackney leasehold property is £350. For South Hackney 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 answers.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such matters? Can you recommend a South Hackney conveyancing firm to assist?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a South Hackney conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a South Hackney property is 150 Amhurst Road in December 2013. The tribunal concluded that the premium to be paid by the applicant for the enfranchisement of the subject property was £43,500. This case affected 4 flats. The unexpired lease term was 90 (or thereabouts).