I want to sublet my leasehold apartment in Bury. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your last Bury conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Bury. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Bury. Conveyancing and Norwich and Peterborough Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in Bury who acted for me is not around.Do I pay?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Bury conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. 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 a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Bury where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Bury conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £325000 flat in Bury in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £324 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Bury?

Bury conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally necessitates the purchaser’s conveyancer submitting enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address such questions the majority will be content to assist. They are entitled invoice a reasonable charge for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The administration charge demanded by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the charge is technically not due. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is requested of you should you wish to sell the property.

I inherited a 1 bedroom flat in Bury, conveyancing was carried out 8 years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Bury with over 90 years remaining are worth £262,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2086

You have 66 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to range between £12,400 and £14,200 plus costs.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Bury