Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our Bakewell ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Bakewell conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Bakewell conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Bakewell.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just had a yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear 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 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 today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in Bakewell. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Bakewell ?

The majority of houses in Bakewell are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Bakewell so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Bakewell conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should advise you fully on all the issues.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Bakewell both have about 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Bakewell is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Bakewell conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Bakewell where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Bakewell conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Bakewell - A selection of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders benefit from being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is often employed where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent employed by the leaseholders. It would be prudent to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they can either make your life much easier or uncomfortable. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to practical matters like the tidiness of the common parts. Enquire of other tenants whether they are happy with them. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Bakewell