My fiance and I may need to rent out our Chesham Bois garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Chesham Bois conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Chesham Bois conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Due to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Chesham Bois. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of flats in Chesham Bois both have approximately 50 years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Chesham Bois. The lease is a right to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We advise that you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Chesham Bois. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Chesham Bois where we see a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Chesham Bois conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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 proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, 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 purchaser.

Chesham Bois Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before buying

The answer will be helpful as a) areas can cause problems for the building as the common areas may start to deteriorate if maintenance are not paid for b) if the tenants have a dispute with the managing agents you will wish to have all the details Who is in charge of the building? Its a good idea to find out as much as you can regarding the company managing the building as they can either make life much simpler or problematic. Being a leasehold owner you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the tidiness of the common parts. Don't be afraid to ask other tenants whether they are happy with their management. On a final note, investigate as to the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the relevant party and precisely what you get for your money.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Chesham Bois