My partner and I may need to let out our West Smithfield ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a West Smithfield conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous West Smithfield conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain permission from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have recently realised that I have Fifty years unexpired on my lease in West Smithfield. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering West Smithfield.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my 2 bed flat in West Smithfield.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a West Smithfield conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a West Smithfield conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you talk with two or three firms including non West Smithfield conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?
• What are the charges for lease extension conveyancing?

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in West Smithfield with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Smithfield can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in West Smithfield charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in West Smithfield.
• Some West Smithfield leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is a current dispute. 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via 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 below 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord to extend my lease without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on such issues? Can you recommend a West Smithfield conveyancing firm to assist?

Where there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the LVT to calculate the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a West Smithfield premises is Flat 89 Trinity Court Grays Inn Road in February 2013. the Tribunal found that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 to the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 should be £36,229. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 66.8 years.

West Smithfield Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? What prohibitions are contained in the West Smithfield Lease? The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this scenario the lessees benefit from being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is usually employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.