Helen (my wife) and I may need to let out our Little Venice garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Little Venice conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Little Venice conveyancing solicitor is not around you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Little Venice. Conveyancing and Bank of Ireland mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Little Venice who previously acted has long since retired.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Little Venice conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Little Venice. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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 be sure 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).

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Little Venice where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Little Venice conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. This means that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

If all goes to plan we aim to complete our sale of a £450000 maisonette in Little Venice next Thursday . The freeholder has quoted £336 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Little Venice?

Little Venice conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily involves administration charges invoiced by freeholders :

• Completing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Little Venice
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Little Venice leasehold premises is £350. For Little Venice 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.

Little Venice Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

Please note that where the lease has no more than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the apartment. It is worth checking with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will most likely have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for 24 months in order to be legally able to extend the lease. Please inform me if there are any major works on the horizon that will likely increase the service fees? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Little Venice