I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in The Hyde. Before diving in I would like to find out the number of years remaining on the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in The Hyde - 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 am intending to let out my leasehold flat in The Hyde. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Your lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in The Hyde do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

Due to complete next month on a basement flat in The Hyde. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in The Hyde should include some of the following:

• Defining your legal entitlements in respect of the communal areas in the building.E.G., does the lease grant a right of way over a path or staircase?
• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
• Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or having a home office for business
• You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in The Hyde.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you discharge the invoice 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 management companies 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in The Hyde where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local The Hyde conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as 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.

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. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to judgment on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a The Hyde property 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 related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 71 years.

The Hyde Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

What is the service charge and ground rent on the property? The answer will be helpful as a) areas can result in problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if repairs are not paid for b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the running of the building you will wish to have full disclosure