I’m about to sell my garden flat in Southfields.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 unless 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.

I own a leasehold flat in Southfields. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing solicitor in Southfields who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Southfields conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Southfields. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Southfields from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Southfields can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Southfields charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Southfields.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Southfields leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you fail to have the paperwork in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• Some Southfields leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate is often a lengthy formality and frustrates many a Southfields home move. Where a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £ 125000 maisonette in Southfields next Tuesday . The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Southfields?

Southfields conveyancing on leasehold flats more often than not requires the buyer’s lawyer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer these enquiries most will be content to do so. They are entitled charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality one has little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

Following years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southfields. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Southfields conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Southfields property is 83 Balvernie Grove in February 2012. The Tribunal assessed the price to be paid by the leaseholder to the freeholder for the lease extension pursuant to section 48 of the Leasehold Reform Housing & Urban Development Act 1993 should be£16,603.00 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 69.32 years.

I inherited a ground floor flat in Southfields, conveyancing formalities finalised 2001. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Southfields with an extended lease are worth £236,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2096

With only 70 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.