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

Notwithstanding that your last Aberbargoed conveyancing solicitor is not around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. The consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have just discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Aberbargoed. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Aberbargoed ?

The majority of houses in Aberbargoed are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Aberbargoed in which case you should be shopping around for a Aberbargoed conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions for example requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Aberbargoed where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Aberbargoed conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as 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 purchaser.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Aberbargoed with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Aberbargoed can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Aberbargoed charge for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most usual cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Aberbargoed.

If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Aberbargoed state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet 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 ahead of 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 as opposed to ongoing.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this by asking your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

We expect to complete the sale of our £500000 garden flat in Aberbargoed in seven days. The freeholder has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Aberbargoed?

For most leasehold sales in Aberbargoed conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Aberbargoed
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Aberbargoed leasehold property is £350. For Aberbargoed conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are obliged to supply answers.

I purchased a garden flat in Aberbargoed, conveyancing having been completed in 2007. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar flats in Aberbargoed with over 90 years remaining are worth £230,000. The ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease ends on 21st October 2096

With only 73 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Aberbargoed