Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Walthamstow. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Walthamstow - 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.

I only have Sixty One years left on my flat in Walthamstow. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to track down the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Walthamstow.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Walthamstow. Conveyancing and Lloyds TSB Bank mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Walthamstow who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to be sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Walthamstow conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Walthamstow where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Walthamstow conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

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. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 250000 flat in Walthamstow in 8 days. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Walthamstow?

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

• Completing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Walthamstow
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Walthamstow leasehold property is £350. For Walthamstow 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 provide answers.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Walthamstow conveyancing firm to assist?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Walthamstow conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Walthamstow flat is 12 Nutfield Road in July 2014. the Tribunal judged that the price to be paid by the applicants for the freehold interest should be £19,572 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 72.02 years.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Walthamstow, conveyancing was carried out 8 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Corresponding flats in Walthamstow with over 90 years remaining are worth £199,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2106

You have 80 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to 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.