I want to sublet my leasehold apartment in South Woodford. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous South Woodford conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I own a leasehold house in South Woodford. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in South Woodford who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a South Woodford conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am attracted to a two flats in South Woodford both have approximately fifty years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in South Woodford is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat 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 South Woodford conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in South Woodford. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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).

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in South Woodford from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in South Woodford can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? South Woodford leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such works. If you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your conveyancer first.

Having spent months of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in South Woodford. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee landlord or where 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 arrive at the premium.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a South Woodford property is 135 Maybank Road in January 2013. The Tribunal determined that the price to be paid by the tenants for the grant of a new lease is £10,592 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 71.2 years.

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Lease Extensions in South Woodford