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

Even though your previous Falmouth conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement apartment in Falmouth.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay 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 managing agents 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.

I work for a reputable estate agency in Falmouth where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Falmouth conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence 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 commence 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 needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Falmouth conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

When appointing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Falmouth conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We recommend that you talk with two or three firms including non Falmouth conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?

What makes a Falmouth lease unacceptable for security purposes?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Falmouth. All leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• 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 have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Lloyds TSB Bank, Virgin Money, and TSB all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Falmouth - A selection of Queries Prior to Purchasing

Where a Falmouth lease has less than 80 years it will impact the salability of the apartment. Check with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Falmouthlease extensions you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the residence for 24 months before you are legally able to extend the lease. This question is helpful as a) areas can cause problems for the block as the common areas may start to deteriorate where services remain unpaid b) if the leasehold owners have a dispute with the managing agents you will need to have all the details Most Falmouth leasehold flats will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the landlord. Should you buy the apartment you will have to meet this amount, usually in instalments accross the year. This may be anything from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Falmouth