Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Woodlands. Before I get started I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and 99.9% are in Woodlands - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars 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.

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Woodlands ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Woodlands conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Woodlands conveyancing solicitor is not around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Woodlands where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Woodlands conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to appointing a Woodlands conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Woodlands conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you speak with several firms including non Woodlands conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
• What are the costs for lease extension work?

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Woodlands from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Woodlands can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Woodlands charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. 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 Woodlands.
• Some Woodlands leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unsettled.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming formality and delays many a Woodlands home move. Where a new share certificate is necessary, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

I have had difficulty in seeking a lease extension in Woodlands. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant legislation it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Woodlands property is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 60.45 years.

I inherited a basement flat in Woodlands, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1997. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable flats in Woodlands with a long lease are worth £194,000. The ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2102

With only 76 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.