My partner and I may need to let out our St Mary Cray 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a St Mary Cray conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in St Mary Cray do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold flat in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing and Santander mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in St Mary Cray who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that regardless, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in St Mary Cray both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in St Mary Cray. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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).

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in St Mary Cray where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local St Mary Cray conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder either before or after the sale. If you are informally negotiating there are no rules and so you cannot insist on the landlord agreeing to grant an extension or transferring the benefit of an agreement to the buyer.

I am the registered owner of a garden flat in St Mary Cray. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the sum payable for a lease extension?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Mary Cray premises is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 50.57 years.

I am the registered owner of a split level flat in St Mary Cray, conveyancing having been completed 9 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in St Mary Cray with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 yearly. The lease ends on 21st October 2095

You have 69 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £11,400 and £13,200 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is 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 due diligence. 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 considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.