Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our Barkingside basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Barkingside conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

The lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Barkingside do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I only have 68 years left on my flat in Barkingside. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If 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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to try and locate and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Barkingside.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Barkingside. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Barkingside should include some of the following:

• Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the property, or working from home

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Barkingside. Conveyancing and HSBC Bank mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Barkingside who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Barkingside conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Barkingside where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Barkingside conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

I have attempted and failed to negotiate with my landlord to extend my lease without any joy. Can I apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal? Can you recommend a Barkingside conveyancing firm to represent me?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the LVT to determine the price.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Barkingside flat is 104 Coventry Road in July 2014. The Tribunal determined that the lease extension permium should be £22,896.15 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 60.29 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Barkingside