I am intending to sublet my leasehold flat in Badminton. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous Badminton conveyancing lawyer is not available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain permission from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Badminton. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that 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 magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent should be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can 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 devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Badminton.

I have just started marketing my ground floor flat in Badminton.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

The sensible thing to do is discharge the invoice 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until 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've recently bought a leasehold flat in Badminton. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to 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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure 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 am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Badminton where we see a few flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Badminton conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Badminton Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

The answer will be important as a) areas could cause problems for the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate if maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the running of the building you will need to have complete disclosure