My fiance and I may need to rent out our Dawlish garden flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Dawlish conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will say if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Dawlish do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Dawlish. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• Are pets allowed in the flat?
• You must be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building
• What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease?

I’m about to sell my garden apartment in Dawlish.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 managing agents 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.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Dawlish both have in the region of 50 years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Dawlish is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the marketability of the premises. The majority of purchasers and banks, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Dawlish conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

What makes a Dawlish lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Dawlish. Most leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that 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 parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Bank of Scotland, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

Dawlish Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Plenty Dawlish leasehold apartments will incur a service bill for maintenance of the building invoiced on behalf of the management company. If you acquire the flat you will have to pay this charge, normally quarterly during the year. This could vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say around £50-£100 but you need to check it because sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds. It is important to be aware if a new roof is being installed or some other significant cost is coming up to be shared by the leasehold owners and will materially impact the level of the service costs or require a specific invoice.