Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Iver 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Iver conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

The lease governs the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Iver do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a garden flat in Iver. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

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

Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Iver please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Iver

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Iver with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Iver can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Iver levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Iver.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Iver leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.

A minority of Iver leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry 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 resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £400000 garden flat in Iver in 8 days. The management company has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Iver?

Iver conveyancing on leasehold flats normally necessitates administration charges levied by landlords agents :

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

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Iver leasehold premises is £350. For Iver 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 provide answers.

Having spent months of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Iver. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Most certainly. We are happy to put you in touch with a Iver conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Iver property is 164 Nestles Avenue in October 2013. The tribunal agreed with the proposed price of £20,158 for the freehold and determined that that sum is the amount to be paid into court This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 69 years.

When it comes to leasehold conveyancing in Iver what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Iver. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

A defective lease will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Barnsley Building Society, and Aldermore all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Iver