Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Pentonville. Before I set the wheels in motion I would like to find out the unexpired term of the lease.

If the lease is registered - and most are in Pentonville - 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.

Frank (my husband) and I may need to sub-let our Pentonville ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Pentonville conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Pentonville conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Pentonville both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold apartment in Pentonville is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 property 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 Pentonville conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed 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.

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Pentonville where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Pentonville conveyancing firms. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer 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 prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Pentonville from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Pentonville can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Pentonville leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your solicitor first.

We have reached the end of our tether in seeking a lease extension in Pentonville. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Pentonville conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Pentonville property 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 the unexpired residue of the current lease was 66.8 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Pentonville