My fiance and I may need to rent out our Grasmere basement flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Grasmere conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your last Grasmere conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Expecting to complete next month on a basement flat in Grasmere. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they report fully on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Grasmere should include some of the following:

• Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

I own a leasehold house in Grasmere. Conveyancing and The Mortgage Works mortgage are in place. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Grasmere who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Grasmere conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Grasmere both have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Grasmere. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease deteriorate and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is advisable to extend the lease term. More often than not it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agency in Grasmere where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Grasmere conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate 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 commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser 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 needs to be completed 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 purchaser.

I acquired a 1st floor flat in Grasmere, conveyancing was carried out 4 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Grasmere with a long lease are worth £200,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease ends on 21st October 2098

With just 78 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more comprehensive investigations. Do not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Grasmere