Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years remaining on my lease in West Brompton. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing West Brompton.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in West Brompton. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in West Brompton please ask your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in West Brompton

I've found a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since been informed that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a leasehold house in West Brompton. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been instructed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in West Brompton are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in West Brompton in which case you should be looking for a West Brompton conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the landlord’sconsent to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your conveyancer will report to you on the legal implications.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in West Brompton from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Brompton can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ representatives.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in West Brompton levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to 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 frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Brompton.

Some West Brompton leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is below 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £200000 maisonette in West Brompton next Thursday . The management company has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in West Brompton?

For the majority of leasehold sales in West Brompton 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 pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in West Brompton
• 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 West Brompton leasehold property is £350. For West Brompton 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.

Having spent months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West Brompton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most certainly. We can put you in touch with a West Brompton conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a West Brompton flat is 5 Wetherby Gardens in June 2014. the Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the freehold of the property was £2,369,452. This case affected 5 flats. The unexpired term was 38.98 years.