Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Luke's. Before I get started I require certainty as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in St Luke's - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details 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.

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our St Luke's garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a St Luke's conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous St Luke's conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I only have Sixty One years remaining on my lease in St Luke's. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering St Luke's.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in St Luke's.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

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 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.

I inherited a garden flat in St Luke's. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for a lease extension?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a St Luke's conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Luke's property is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines 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 for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72.39 years.

What makes a St Luke's lease defective?

Leasehold conveyancing in St Luke's is not unique. Most leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Virgin Money, and Britannia all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Luke's