I would like to let out my leasehold apartment in Stockwell. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your previous Stockwell conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I only have Seventy years remaining on my flat in Stockwell. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Stockwell.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor apartment in Stockwell.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you discharge 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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've recently bought a leasehold house in Stockwell. 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. 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 reputable estate agency in Stockwell where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Stockwell conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 leaseholder of a ground floor flat in Stockwell. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount due for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a absentee landlord or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to decide the amount due.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Stockwell flat is 3 Tintern Street in February 2010. The tribunal had jurisdiction to make a decision on the price of the freehold of the subject premises and concluded that the premium should be £24,630.00 This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 73.69 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Stockwell - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Generally speaking the outlay for major works tend not to be incorporated into the maintenance charges, although there some managing agents in Stockwell require tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for major repairs or maintenance.