Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Glossop basement flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Glossop conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Glossop conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Glossop. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Glossop from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Glossop can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Glossop charge for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Glossop.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and frustrates many a Glossop conveyancing transaction. Where a duplicate share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You may think that you are aware of the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £450000 apartment in Glossop in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Glossop?

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

• Completing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Glossop
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Glossop leasehold premises is £350. For Glossop 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.

What makes a Glossop lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Glossop. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. 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
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Birmingham Midshires, Virgin Money, and Alliance & Leicester all have express conveyancing instructions 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 pull out.

I am the registered owner of a 1st floor flat in Glossop, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Corresponding flats in Glossop with a long lease are worth £264,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease finishes on 21st October 2095

You have 74 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure in the absence of comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Glossop