Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years unexpired on my flat in St John's Wood. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering St John's Wood.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to meet my requirements, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have since found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are issues buying a leasehold house in St John's Wood. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in St John's Wood ?

The majority of houses in St John's Wood are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in St John's Wood in which case you should be shopping around for a St John's Wood conveyancing solicitor and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am looking at a couple of flats in St John's Wood which have approximately fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in St John's Wood is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with St John's Wood conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

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

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St John's Wood can be avoided where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in St John's Wood levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in St John's Wood.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? St John's Wood leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such alterations. If you dont have the consents in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor first.
• Some St John's Wood leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 buyers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 250000 maisonette in St John's Wood in 8 days. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in St John's Wood?

For the majority of leasehold sales in St John's Wood conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in St John's Wood
• 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 St John's Wood leasehold property is £350. For St John's Wood 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 given up trying to purchase the freehold in St John's Wood. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a St John's Wood property is Garden Flat 195 Goldhurst Terrace in May 2012. The Tribunal held in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease should be £60,855.00. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 60.16 years.

St John's Wood Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

If a St John's Wood lease has less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your lender that they are content with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would be be obliged to have owned the property for 24 months before you are entitled to carry out a lease extension.