Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Tokyngton garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Tokyngton conveyancing practice in 2004 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?

Even though your last Tokyngton conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I only have 72 years left on my lease in Tokyngton. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

If 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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent should be useful to conduct investigations and prepare a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Tokyngton.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Tokyngton which have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Tokyngton is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Tokyngton conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Tokyngton. Am I liable to pay 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 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. 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Tokyngton from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Tokyngton can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Tokyngton levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tokyngton.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Tokyngton state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you dont have the approvals to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unresolved. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Tokyngton home move. Where a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this as soon as possible.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without any joy. Can one make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Tokyngton conveyancing firm to act on my behalf?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Tokyngton flat is Ground Floor Flat 79 London Road in September 2012. the Tribunal held that the premium payable for the lease extension should be £7,636 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired term was 74 years.

Tokyngton Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the lessees enjoy control and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. On the whole the cost for major works are not included within maintenance charges, albeit that a few managing agents in Tokyngton obliged tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for larger works.