I want to let out my leasehold flat in Barrow In Furness. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous Barrow In Furness conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before 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 the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Barrow In Furness. Conveyancing and Chelsea Building Society mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing solicitor in Barrow In Furness who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Barrow In Furness conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Barrow In Furness which have in the region of 50 years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Barrow In Furness is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with under 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 Barrow In Furness 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that any new 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Barrow In Furness conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Barrow In Furness conveyancing practice) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you talk with several firms including non Barrow In Furness conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

We expect to complete the disposal of our £300000 garden flat in Barrow In Furness next Friday . The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Barrow In Furness?

Barrow In Furness conveyancing on leasehold flats often involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to these enquiries the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled invoice a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is above £800. The management information fee required by the landlord must be accompanied by a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to sell the property.

I invested in buying a basement flat in Barrow In Furness, conveyancing was carried out 2005. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Comparable flats in Barrow In Furness with a long lease are worth £225,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 levied per year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2080

With just 58 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £26,600 and £30,800 plus legals.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Barrow In Furness