I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Llanelli. Before diving in I would like to find out the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Llanelli - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My husband and I may need to rent out our Llanelli garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Llanelli conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Llanelli conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I only have Sixty One years remaining on my lease in Llanelli. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have done all that could be expected to track down the freeholder. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document which can be used as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Llanelli.

I’m about to sell my garden flat in Llanelli.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am employed by a reputable estate agent office in Llanelli where we have experienced a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Llanelli conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done 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 purchaser.

I invested in buying a studio flat in Llanelli, conveyancing formalities finalised half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Similar flats in Llanelli with an extended lease are worth £240,000. The ground rent is £65 invoiced every year. The lease runs out on 21st October 2089

With only 63 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £22,800 and £26,400 plus costs.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs in the absence of detailed investigations. You should not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward placing reliance on this information without first getting professional advice.