Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Holywell basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Holywell conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Holywell conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years left on my flat in Holywell. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply 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 Court. You will be obliged to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be helpful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Holywell.

I am hoping to complete next month on a studio apartment in Holywell. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

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

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Holywell. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure 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).

I work for a busy estate agency in Holywell where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local Holywell conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can start 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 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 purchaser.

I acquired a 2 bed flat in Holywell, conveyancing was carried out in 1999. Can you shed any light on how much the price could be for a 90 year extension to my lease? Similar properties in Holywell with a long lease are worth £179,000. The ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease ceases on 21st October 2083

With just 58 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £22,800 and £26,400 plus legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. 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 clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Holywell