I own a leasehold house in West Hendon. Conveyancing and Nationwide Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in West Hendon who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a West Hendon conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a couple of flats in West Hendon both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in West Hendon. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in West Hendon. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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. It is an essential part 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).

I am employed by a busy estate agency in West Hendon where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local West Hendon conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 purchaser.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in West Hendon from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in West Hendon can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in West Hendon charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Hendon.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. 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 are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and delays many a West Hendon conveyancing transaction. If a reissued share is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I own a basement flat in West Hendon. Given that I can not reach agreement with the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the sum due for a lease extension?

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 determine the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a West Hendon flat is First Floor Flat 61 Wilberforce Road in March 2014. The premium payable was £10,130 and the case was remitted back to the Willesden County Court to effect the Vesting Order (Claim No 3W103100). This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 71 years.

I am the registered owner of a leasehold flat in West Hendon, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2006. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Comparable flats in West Hendon with an extended lease are worth £259,000. The ground rent is £45 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2106

With 80 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.