My wife and I may need to rent out our Ladywood basement flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Ladywood conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will say if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Ladywood do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the tenancy agreement.

There are only Seventy years remaining on my flat in Ladywood. I am keen to extend my lease but my landlord is can not be found. 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. On the whole a specialist should be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Ladywood.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Ladywood which have in the region of forty five years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a period of time. As the lease shortens the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is generally wise to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Ladywood where we have witnessed a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local Ladywood conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

Are there frequently found problems that you come across in leases for Ladywood properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Ladywood. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You may have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Halifax, Chelsea Building Society, and TSB all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Ladywood - A selection of Questions you should consider before buying

How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property? You should be aware that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will impact the salability of the flat. It is worth checking with your lender that they are willing to lend given the lease term. A short lease means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Ladywoodlease extensions you would be required to have owned the property for a couple of years in order to be entitled to extend the lease.