My wife and I may need to rent out our Aigburth basement flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Aigburth conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Aigburth conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years left on my lease in Aigburth. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. For most situations a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Aigburth.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agency in Aigburth where we see a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Aigburth conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Aigburth with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Aigburth can be bypassed where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• A minority of Aigburth leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, 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 financially capable of paying 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £200000 flat in Aigburth in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Aigburth?

Aigburth conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to respond to these enquiries most will be content to do so. They may levy a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have no option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

I am the registered owner of a 2 bed flat in Aigburth, conveyancing having been completed in 1995. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Aigburth with over 90 years remaining are worth £235,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease finishes on 21st October 2088

You have 62 years left to run the likely cost is going to be between £16,200 and £18,600 as well as costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Aigburth