Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray. Before I set the wheels in motion I require certainty as to the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in St Mary Cray - 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.

I would like to rent out my leasehold flat in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous St Mary Cray conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in St Mary Cray. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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 employed by a long established estate agent office in St Mary Cray where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to 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 disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? St Mary Cray leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such works. If you dont have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your solicitor in advance.
• Some St Mary Cray leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to 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 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
• You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I have had difficulty in trying to reach an agreement for a lease extension in St Mary Cray. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Where there is a absentee landlord or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the LVT to judgment on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision 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 remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.

I purchased a studio flat in St Mary Cray, conveyancing having been completed 4 years ago. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable properties in St Mary Cray with a long lease are worth £195,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2084

You have 58 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £23,800 and £27,400 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.