I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Totteridge. Before I get started I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Totteridge - 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 fiance and I may need to let out our Totteridge garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Totteridge conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Totteridge do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

I am attracted to a two maisonettes in Totteridge both have in the region of fifty years left on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Totteridge is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and lenders, leases with less than 75 years become less and less marketable. 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 premises 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 premises 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 Totteridge conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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.

I work for a long established estate agency in Totteridge where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Totteridge conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Totteridge from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Totteridge can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Totteridge charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Totteridge.
• A minority of Totteridge leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a Totteridge conveyancing deal. If a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Following years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Totteridge. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a Totteridge conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Totteridge flat is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 76 years.

I am the registered owner of a basement flat in Totteridge, conveyancing having been completed in 2011. How much will my lease extension cost? Corresponding properties in Totteridge with a long lease are worth £247,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2094

You have 68 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.