My fiance and I may need to let out our Earley garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Earley conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Earley conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Back In 2006, I bought a leasehold house in Earley. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing practitioner in Earley who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Earley conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Earley. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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 a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Earley where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Earley conveyancing solicitors. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. 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.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Earley what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Earley. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can result in certain provisions are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Lloyds TSB Bank, Norwich and Peterborough Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Earley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

In the main the cost for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Earley require tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major repairs or maintenance.