I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years remaining on my flat in White City. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

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 for permission 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 used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. For most situations a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering White City.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in White City. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in White City. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before 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. 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 work for a busy estate agency in White City where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local White City conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to 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 disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a White City conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a White City conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We advise that you talk with two or three firms including non White City conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?

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

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

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a White City premises is 23 & 23A Collingbourne Road in June 2013. Tribunal was dealing with the assessment of the value of the freehold reversion and determination of the terms of the acquisition pursuant to an Order of District Judge Lightman dated 25 February 2013 vesting the freehold interest in the property in the applicant. The tribunal assessed the price of the freehold (to which any arrears or other sums due to the missing landlord under the leases should be added) at £81,638. This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 64.5 years.