Planning to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Woodside Park. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The physical extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but might incorporate a roof space or cellar if appropriate.
• Whether the lease restricts you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business
• You must be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Woodside Park.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Woodside Park. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Woodside Park who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Woodside Park conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Woodside Park which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Woodside Park is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Woodside Park conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park with the aim of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Woodside Park charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woodside Park.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Woodside Park leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord consenting to such works. Where you fail to have the consents to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable double-check by asking your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Woodside Park conveyancing firm to help?

in cases where there is a absentee landlord 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 decide the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Woodside Park premises is Flat 2 2 Netherfield Road in April 2010. The Tribunale held that premium payable for a 90 year extension to the existing Lease should be £7,705. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 76 years.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Woodside Park, conveyancing formalities finalised 2002. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Woodside Park with over 90 years remaining are worth £188,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease expires on 21st October 2103

With just 77 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should 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 clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.