Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Arlesey. Before diving in I want to be sure as to the number of years remaining on the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and almost all are in Arlesey - 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 rent out our Arlesey 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Arlesey conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Arlesey do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience suggests that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Arlesey. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

I work for a busy estate agency in Arlesey where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Arlesey conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is 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 needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 475000 flat in Arlesey next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Arlesey?

Arlesey conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are at liberty levy a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is £350, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in relation to administration fees, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. In reality one has no choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Arlesey - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Make sure you investigate if there is anything that is prohibited in the lease. By way of example it is reasonably common in Arlesey leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Arlesey. If you like the apartmentin Arlesey but your cat is not allowed to live with you then you will be presented with a difficult compromise. How many years are left on the lease?