I wish to rent out my leasehold apartment in West Drayton. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Even though your last West Drayton conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only 68 years remaining on my flat in West Drayton. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order 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 prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing West Drayton.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in West Drayton. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

What are your top tips when it comes to appointing a West Drayton conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a West Drayton conveyancing practice) it is most important that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non West Drayton conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be useful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• How many lease extensions have they carried out in West Drayton in the last year?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £ 500000 maisonette in West Drayton in nine days. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in West Drayton?

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

• Addressing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in West Drayton
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Drayton leasehold premises is £350. For West Drayton 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 required to provide answers.

Having spent months of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in West Drayton. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a West Drayton conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a West Drayton property is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 69 years.

I purchased a 2 bed flat in West Drayton, conveyancing having been completed in 2004. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in West Drayton with an extended lease are worth £176,000. The ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease expires on 21st October 2079

You have 53 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £29,500 and £34,000 plus legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.