I am intending to rent out my leasehold apartment in Kirkby. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Notwithstanding that your previous Kirkby conveyancing lawyer is not available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

There are only Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Kirkby. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Kirkby.

Back In 2002, I bought a leasehold flat in Kirkby. Conveyancing and Alliance & Leicester mortgage organised. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in Kirkby who previously acted has now retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Kirkby conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £150000 maisonette in Kirkby next Friday . The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Kirkby?

For most leasehold sales in Kirkby conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Kirkby
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• 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 Kirkby leasehold property is £350. For Kirkby 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 the information.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Kirkby what are the most common lease defects?

Leasehold conveyancing in Kirkby is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause problems when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Santander, Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Kirkby Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Who are the managing agents? How much is the ground rent and service charge? Best to be warned if redecorating or some other significant cost is pending that will be shared by the tenants and may well dramatically increase the the maintenance charges or result in a one time payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Kirkby