Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Brighouse garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Brighouse conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your last Brighouse conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Due to complete next month on a studio apartment in Brighouse. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Brighouse should include some of the following:

• The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

I have just appointed agents to market my garden apartment in Brighouse.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should 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 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.

Back In 2008, I bought a leasehold house in Brighouse. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Brighouse who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Brighouse conveyancing solicitor to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I work for a long established estate agency in Brighouse where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Brighouse conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 purchaser.

Brighouse Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Many Brighouse leasehold flats will have a service bill for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. If you acquire the flat you will have to meet this contribution, normally in instalments throughout the year. This could vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say about £25-£75 but you need to enquire as occasionally it could be surprisingly expensive. If a Brighouse lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the value of the property. Check with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely require a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this would cost. Remember, in most cases you would need to own the residence for a couple of years before you are eligible to carry out a lease extension. What prohibitions are contained in the Brighouse Lease?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Brighouse