Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Bartley Green garden flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Bartley Green conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Bartley Green conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years remaining on my flat in Bartley Green. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?

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 for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to conduct investigations and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Bartley Green.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a leasehold property in Bartley Green. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The total extent of the demise. This will be the flat itself but might include a loft or basement if appropriate.
• Setting out your rights in respect of the communal areas in the building.For example, does the lease contain a right of way over an accessway or staircase?
• Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?
• Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Bartley Green please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Bartley Green

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 250000 maisonette in Bartley Green next week. The landlords agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Bartley Green?

Bartley Green conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times necessitates administration charges raised by managing agents :

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

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Bartley Green leasehold property is £350. For Bartley Green 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 obliged to supply answers.

What makes a Bartley Green lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Bartley Green. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, Chelsea Building Society, and Alliance & Leicester all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

I bought a ground floor flat in Bartley Green, conveyancing formalities finalised 4 years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar properties in Bartley Green with an extended lease are worth £255,000. The ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2104

With just 78 years unexpired the likely cost is going to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.