Jane (my partner) and I may need to let out our Coleford garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Coleford conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Coleford conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Looking forward to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Coleford. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

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

• The physical extent of the property. This will be the flat itself but could also include a loft or cellar if appropriate.

You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Coleford please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Coleford

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Coleford where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Coleford conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start 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 can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Coleford conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Coleford conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Coleford conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in Coleford in the last year?

Can they put you in touch with client in Coleford who can give a testimonial?

Completion in due on the sale of our £150000 maisonette in Coleford next Friday . The managing agents has quoted £300 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Coleford?

Coleford conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in administration charges raised by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Coleford
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Coleford leasehold property is £350. For Coleford 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 required to provide the information.

Coleford Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

How long is the Lease? Most Coleford leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block levied by the landlord. If you buy the property you will have to pay this contribution, normally periodically during the year. This may be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, normally this is not a exorbitant amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check it because occasionally it can be prohibitively expensive. The prefered form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the leaseholders have being in charge if their destiny and although a managing agent is frequently retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Coleford