Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Ferndown 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Ferndown conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the landlord and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Ferndown do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

I have recently realised that I have 68 years unexpired on my lease in Ferndown. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Ferndown.

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor flat in Ferndown.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just had a half-yearly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

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 until 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 am attracted to a two maisonettes in Ferndown both have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Ferndown. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As a lease shortens the marketability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be reluctant to lend money 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 field

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agent office in Ferndown where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Ferndown conveyancing solicitors. Can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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.

Ferndown Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before buying

Who are the managing agents? Its a good idea to discover as much as possible about the managing agents as they can either make your living at the property much simpler or problematic. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily matters such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Don't be shy to ask other people whether they are happy with them. In conclusion, be sure you know the dates that the service fees are due to the appropriate party and specifically what it includes.