My husband and I may need to sub-let our Barlborough ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Barlborough conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Barlborough conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Barlborough. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Barlborough should include some of the following:

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

Defining your legal entitlements in relation to common areas in the building.E.G., does the lease include a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Barlborough please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Barlborough

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Barlborough which have about forty five years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the value of the lease reduces and it becomes more costly to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Barlborough where we see a number of flat sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Barlborough conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £500000 garden flat in Barlborough in six days. The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Barlborough?

Barlborough conveyancing on leasehold apartments nine out of ten times results in fees being invoiced by freeholders :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Barlborough
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Barlborough leasehold property is £350. For Barlborough 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 provide the information.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Barlborough - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants. What restrictions exist in the Barlborough Lease? Most Barlborough leasehold apartments will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block set on behalf of the landlord. Should you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments throughout the year. This could differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay annual, normally this is not a exorbitant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because sometimes it could be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Barlborough