Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in The Hyde. Before I get started I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in The Hyde - 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.

My partner and I may need to sub-let our The Hyde 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a The Hyde conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in The Hyde do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years left on my lease in The Hyde. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering The Hyde.

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a The Hyde conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a The Hyde conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with several firms including non The Hyde conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

Completion in due on the disposal of our £300000 apartment in The Hyde next week. The landlords agents has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in The Hyde?

For the majority of leasehold sales in The Hyde conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in The Hyde
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for The Hyde leasehold property is £350. For The Hyde 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 the information.

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

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

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a The Hyde residence is First Floor Flat 61 Wilberforce Road in March 2014. The premium payable was £10,130 and the case was remitted back to the Willesden County Court to effect the Vesting Order (Claim No 3W103100). This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 71 years.