I want to let out my leasehold apartment in South Woodford. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

A lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; specifically, it will set out if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in South Woodford do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in South Woodford.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 management companies 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.

Back In 2009, I bought a leasehold house in South Woodford. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in South Woodford who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a South Woodford conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 200000 apartment in South Woodford next week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in South Woodford?

South Woodford conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically involves fees being raised by managing agents :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in South Woodford
• 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 South Woodford leasehold premises is £350. For South Woodford 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 provide answers.

After years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in South Woodford. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord or if there is disagreement 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 Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a South Woodford flat is 135 Maybank Road in January 2013. The Tribunal determined that the price to be paid by the tenants for the grant of a new lease is £10,592 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 71.2 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in South Woodford what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in South Woodford. All leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain clauses are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. HSBC Bank, The Mortgage Works, and TSB all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Leasehold Conveyancing in South Woodford - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Can you inform me if there are any major works in the planning that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs? Plenty South Woodford leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the landlord. If you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this charge, normally in instalments throughout the year. This could be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a large figure, say about £25-£75 but you need to check as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds.