Jane (my partner) and I may need to sub-let our Gloucester ground floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Gloucester conveyancing practice in 2004 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 Gloucester conveyancing lawyer is no longer available 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 permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have recently realised that I have Fifty years left on my lease in Gloucester. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application 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 Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate 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 disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Gloucester.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a reasonable figure which is making it more attractive. I have since been informed that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Gloucester. Conveyancing advisers have are about to be instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Gloucester ?

Most houses in Gloucester are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in Gloucester in which case you should be looking for a Gloucester conveyancing practitioner and be sure that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example requiring the freeholder’spermission to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer will advise you fully on all the issues.

I am a negotiator for a reputable estate agent office in Gloucester where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Gloucester conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities 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 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 wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the sale of our £350000 garden flat in Gloucester on Wednesday in a week. The management company has quoted £336 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Gloucester?

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

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Gloucester
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Gloucester leasehold premises is £350. For Gloucester 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.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Gloucester - Sample of Queries Prior to Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? Does the lease contain onerous restrictions? How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the flat?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Gloucester