Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our Ledbury 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Ledbury conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Ledbury 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 see 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 consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years left on my lease in Ledbury. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to find the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Ledbury.

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Ledbury where we have witnessed a number of flat sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Ledbury conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 buyer.

What advice can you give us when it comes to choosing a Ledbury conveyancing practice to deal with our lease extension?

When appointing a property lawyer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Ledbury conveyancing firm) it is essential that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you talk with several firms including non Ledbury conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £500000 maisonette in Ledbury in 5 days. The freeholder has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Ledbury?

Ledbury conveyancing on leasehold apartments often necessitates the purchaser’s solicitor sending enquiries for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries most will be willing to do so. They are at liberty charge a reasonable administration fee for responding to questions or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some situations it is above £800. The management information fee levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to sell the property.

Ledbury Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before Purchasing

You should be aware if it is less than eighty years it will affect the marketability of the flat. Check with your bank that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the premises for two years before you are eligible to extend the lease. Many Ledbury leasehold properties will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the block levied by the freeholder. Should you acquire the flat you will have to pay this charge, usually quarterly during the year. This may vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, normally this is not a large sum, say about £50-£100 but you need to enquire as on occasion it could be surprisingly expensive. Are there any major works anticipated that will add a premium to the service fees?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Ledbury