Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Acocks Green basement flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Acocks Green conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Acocks Green conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my basement flat in Acocks Green.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly service charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you pay the service charge 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 unless 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 reputable estate agency in Acocks Green where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Acocks Green conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to appointing a Acocks Green conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a property lawyer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Acocks Green conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Acocks Green conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• What volume of lease extensions has the firm completed in Acocks Green in the last year?
• What are the legal fees for lease extension work?

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 250000 garden flat in Acocks Green in nine days. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Acocks Green?

Acocks Green conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes ordinarily involves administration charges invoiced by management companies :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Acocks Green
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Acocks Green leasehold property is £350. For Acocks Green 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 the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Acocks Green - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

Please note that where the lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments?