I am on look out for some leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Kentish Town - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Expecting to complete next month on a garden flat in Kentish Town. 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 Kentish Town should include some of the following:

• The physical extent of the property. This will be the property itself but may incorporate a roof space or cellar if applicable.
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?
• You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Kentish Town.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is 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 managing agents will not acknowledge the buyer until 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.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Kentish Town where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Kentish Town conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 buyer.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Kentish Town levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Kentish Town.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Kentish Town conveyancing deal. If a new share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this at the earliest opportunity.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Having spent months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Kentish Town. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Kentish Town flat is Flat 2 27 Mackeson Road in December 2012. The Tribunal assessed the value of the lease extension premium at £35,435 and rounded the figure to £35,500 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 64.77 years.

Kentish Town Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? For many Kentish Town leaseholds the outlay for major works tend not to be included within maintenance charges, although some managing agents in Kentish Town require leaseholders to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of building a fund for major works.