I want to rent out my leasehold apartment in Denbigh. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your previous Denbigh conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Denbigh.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a half-yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay the invoice 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.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold flat in Denbigh. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Denbigh who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

First contact HMLR to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to incur the fees of a Denbigh conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in Denbigh where we see a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Denbigh conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 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.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £400000 flat in Denbigh in six days. The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Denbigh?

Denbigh conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times involves administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Denbigh
• 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 Denbigh leasehold property is £350. For Denbigh 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 obliged to supply answers.

Denbigh Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries before buying

Who are the managing agents? Does the lease include onerous restrictions? The majority of Denbigh leasehold flats will have a service charge for maintenance of the building levied by the landlord. Where you acquire the apartment you will have to pay this liability, normally periodically accross the year. This can be anything from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a large figure, say around £50-£100 but you should to check it because occasionally it can be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Denbigh