My fiance and I may need to rent out our Hampden Pk ground floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Hampden Pk conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your last Hampden Pk conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years unexpired on my flat in Hampden Pk. I now wish to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order 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 demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. On the whole a specialist would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to 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 proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Hampden Pk.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Hampden Pk. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

Back In 2001, I bought a leasehold flat in Hampden Pk. Conveyancing and Birmingham Midshires mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing solicitor in Hampden Pk who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a Hampden Pk conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. You should note that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Hampden Pk where we see a few flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Hampden Pk conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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. This means 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 needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 inherited a ground floor flat in Hampden Pk, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Corresponding properties in Hampden Pk with a long lease are worth £220,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 levied per year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2098

With just 73 years unexpired the likely cost is going to span between £8,600 and £9,800 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward placing reliance on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

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Lease Extensions in Hampden Pk