I wish to sublet my leasehold flat in Deeside. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Notwithstanding that your last Deeside conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Deeside.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should clear 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 management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless 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 attracted to a couple of apartments in Deeside both have approximately fifty years remaining on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more costly 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 difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this field

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Deeside where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Deeside conveyancing solicitors. 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 250000 apartment in Deeside next week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Deeside?

For most leasehold sales in Deeside conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Deeside
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Deeside leasehold premises is £350. For Deeside 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.

Deeside Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Are there any major works anticipated that will likely add a premium to the service fees? It is important to be aware if redecorating or some other major work is pending that will be shared between the leasehold owners and will materially increase the the service charges or necessitate a one time payment. Where a Deeside lease has fewer than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the flat. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to go ahead with the loan given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this would cost. For most Deesidelease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to carry out a lease extension.