My fiance and I may need to rent out our Haddenham ground floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Haddenham conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Haddenham conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can review your lease to check 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 need to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to 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 only have Fifty years remaining on my flat in Haddenham. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. On the whole a specialist may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Haddenham.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a garden flat in Haddenham. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Haddenham should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

The total extent of the premises. This will be the property itself but may include a roof space or cellar if appropriate.

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this will change in the future

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Haddenham please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Haddenham

I work for a busy estate agency in Haddenham where we have experienced a few flat sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Haddenham conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £150000 maisonette in Haddenham in nine days. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Haddenham?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Haddenham
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

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

I inherited a split level flat in Haddenham, conveyancing formalities finalised 4 years ago. How much will my lease extension cost? Similar flats in Haddenham with an extended lease are worth £191,000. The ground rent is £55 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2094

You have 72 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £9,500 and £11,000 plus professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure in the absence of detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Haddenham