Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in St Paul's Cray. Before diving in I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is registered - and 99.9% are in St Paul's Cray - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our St Paul's Cray garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a St Paul's Cray conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous St Paul's Cray conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only 72 years remaining on my lease in St Paul's Cray. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering St Paul's Cray.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in St Paul's Cray. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in St Paul's Cray who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make 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 Paul's Cray conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in St Paul's 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. 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).

Following months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St Paul's Cray. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the LVT to make a decision on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Paul's Cray residence 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 affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.