I wish to sublet my leasehold flat in North London. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your last North London conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed apartment in North London.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in North London. Conveyancing and The Royal Bank of Scotland mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in North London who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a North London conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in North London. 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. 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).

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 150000 flat in North London in seven days. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in North London?

North London conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes more often than not necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries most will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

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 North London. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a missing landlord or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the price payable.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a North London property is 20 Avonwick Road in July 2013. The Tribunal was dealing with an application under Section 26 of the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 for a determination of the freehold value of the property. It was concluded that the price to be paid was Fifteen Thousand Nine Hundred and Seventy (£15,970) divided as to £8,200 for Flat 20 and £7,770 for Flat 20A This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 73.26 years.

I purchased a 1st floor flat in North London, conveyancing formalities finalised 3 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar properties in North London with a long lease are worth £242,000. The ground rent is £50 levied per year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2105

With 79 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 plus professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.