My husband and I may need to let out our Buckden garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Buckden conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your last Buckden conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I've found a house that appears to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have subsequently discovered 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 Buckden. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the implications of buying a leasehold house in Buckden ?

The majority of houses in Buckden are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Buckden in which case you should be looking for a Buckden conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the freeholder’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your lawyer should appraise you on the various issues.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Buckden where we have experienced a few leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Buckden conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can initiate 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 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 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 simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Buckden with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Buckden can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers representatives.
• Some Buckden leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Buckden what are the most common lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Buckden. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Yorkshire Building Society, The Mortgage Works, and Barclays Direct all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Buckden Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

What is the annual service fee and ground rent? It would be sensible to discover as much as you can about the company managing the building as they can either make living at the property much simpler or much more difficult. As the owner of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask prospective neighbours if they are happy with their management. On a final note, be sure you know the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the managing agents and precisely what you get for your money. You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the flat. Check with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will most likely need a lease extension at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. For most Buckdenlease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the property for a couple of years before you are legally able to extend the lease.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Buckden