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

The lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Fairwater do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my flat in Fairwater. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent would be useful to try and locate and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Fairwater.

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Fairwater where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Fairwater conveyancing solicitors. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having 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 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 buyer.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £425000 maisonette in Fairwater next week. The managing agents has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Fairwater?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Fairwater
• 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 Fairwater leasehold property is £350. For Fairwater 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 provide the information.

Are there common deficiencies that you witness in leases for Fairwater properties?

Leasehold conveyancing in Fairwater is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Chelsea Building Society, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Fairwater - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

Plenty Fairwater leasehold apartments will have a service bill for maintenance of the block levied on behalf of the management company. Where you buy the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually periodically accross the year. This could vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a significant amount, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the value of the flat. Check with your lender that they are content with residual term of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and you need to have some idea of what this will be. Remember, in most cases you would be required to have been the owner of the residence for a couple of years in order to be legally able to extend the lease. Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge liability?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Fairwater