Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our St Pancras garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a St Pancras conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut 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?

Even though your previous St Pancras conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. The 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.

Back In 2004, I bought a leasehold house in St Pancras. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing practitioner in St Pancras who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a St Pancras conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in St Pancras. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. 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).

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in St Pancras from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in St Pancras can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in St Pancras charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in St Pancras.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in St Pancras state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such changes. If you dont have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy formality and slows down many a St Pancras home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £200000 flat in St Pancras next week. The landlords agents has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in St Pancras?

For the majority of leasehold sales in St Pancras 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 Pancras
• 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 Pancras leasehold property is £350. For St Pancras 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.

Having spent months of negotiations we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St Pancras. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a St Pancras conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Pancras flat is Flat 89 Trinity Court Grays Inn Road in February 2013. the Tribunal found that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 should be £36,229. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 66.8 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Pancras