Frank (my husband) and I may need to rent out our East Dean garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a East Dean conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous East Dean conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent must not not 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 only have 72 years unexpired on my flat in East Dean. I now want to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering East Dean.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to be perfect, at a reasonable figure which is making it more attractive. I have just been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a leasehold house in East Dean. Conveyancing solicitors have are about to be instructed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in East Dean are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in East Dean in which case you should be shopping around for a East Dean conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct alterations. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is located on an estate. Your solicitor will report to you on the legal implications.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in East Dean with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in East Dean can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many freeholders or Management Companies in East Dean charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in East Dean.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in East Dean state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such alterations. Should you dont have the paperwork in place you should not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.

Some East Dean leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your conveyancers. A buyer’s conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is essential at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £150000 garden flat in East Dean in just under a week. The landlords agents has quoted £348 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in East Dean?

For the majority of leasehold sales in East Dean conveyancing will involve, queries regarding 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 East Dean
• 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 East Dean leasehold property is £350. For East Dean 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 answers.

I inherited a garden flat in East Dean, conveyancing formalities finalised in 1998. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent flats in East Dean with an extended lease are worth £197,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 invoiced annually. The lease runs out on 21st October 2101

With 80 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £9,500 and £11,000 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in East Dean