Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Howden. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Howden - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My husband and I may need to let out our Howden garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Howden conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Howden do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to review references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting permission.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Howden. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 ensure 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Howden with the purpose of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Howden can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Howden leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Should you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.

A minority of Howden leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should ensure that you are holding the original share certificate. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Howden conveyancing deal. If a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

We expect to complete the disposal of our £225000 apartment in Howden in nine days. The landlords agents has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Howden?

Howden conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in fees being levied by landlords agents :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Howden
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Howden leasehold property is £350. For Howden 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 required to supply the information.

Howden Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

Most Howden leasehold properties will have a service bill for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the management company. Where you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this charge, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for large purpose-built buildings. In all probability there will be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large amount, say approximately £25-£75 but you need to check it because on occasion it can be surprisingly expensive. Be sure to investigate if there are any onerous restrictions in the lease. For example it is very common in Howden leases that pets are not allowed in certain buildings in Howden. If you like the flatin Howden but your cat is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult compromise. The best form of lease arrangement is if the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this arrangement the tenants have being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is frequently retained where the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Howden