Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Johns. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in St Johns - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Planning to complete next month on a studio apartment in St Johns. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in St Johns should include some of the following:

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

I have just appointed agents to market my garden flat in St Johns.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a St Johns conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a St Johns conveyancing firm) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you speak with two or three firms including non St Johns conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be of use:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

All being well we will complete our sale of a £250000 garden flat in St Johns next Thursday . The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in St Johns?

St Johns conveyancing on leasehold flats normally requires the buyer’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address such questions the majority will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of entitlements and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has no option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in St Johns. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to make a decision on the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a St Johns flat is 73 Walerand Road in August 2012. the result of the findings of the Tribunal led to a premium to be paid for the extended lease in respect of Flat 73 in the sum of £10,040. The premium applicable in respect of Flat 85 was £5,710. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 72 years.