My husband and I may need to rent out our Badminton ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Badminton conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut 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?

Notwithstanding that your previous Badminton conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain permission from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only 72 years remaining on my lease in Badminton. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Badminton.

I am attracted to a two flats in Badminton both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Badminton. The lease is a right to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Badminton with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Badminton can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Badminton leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the consents in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in advance.

Some Badminton leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should 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 buyers or their solicitors.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you hold the original share document. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Badminton home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £325000 maisonette in Badminton in nine days. The management company has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Badminton?

For most leasehold sales in Badminton 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-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Badminton
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Badminton leasehold property is £350. For Badminton 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 required to supply the information.

Badminton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Queries before buying

It would be sensible to discover if the the lease includes any onerous restrictions in the lease. By way of example plenty of leases prohibit pets being allowed in in a block in Badminton. If you love the flatin Badminton yet your cat is not allowed to move with you then you will be faced hard decision. What is the name of the managing agents? Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Badminton