My husband and I may need to rent out our Eye garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Eye conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Eye conveyancing solicitor is not around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just appointed agents to market my 2 bed apartment in Eye.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a yearly maintenance charge invoice – 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

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 found out that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Eye. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Eye ?

The majority of houses in Eye are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Eye in which case you should be shopping around for a Eye conveyancing practitioner and check that they have experience in dealing with leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the landlord’spermission to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is located on an estate. Your lawyer will report to you on the legal implications.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Eye both have about forty five years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There are plenty of short leases in Eye. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As the lease shortens the value of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. 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 as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I work for a long established estate agent office in Eye where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Eye conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

I own a 2 bed flat in Eye, conveyancing having been completed 2009. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Comparable flats in Eye with over 90 years remaining are worth £236,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2097

With 71 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to 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 Eye