My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Belgravia basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Belgravia conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Belgravia conveyancing lawyer is no longer around you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I've found a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it more attractive. I have since been informed that it's a leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Belgravia. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

Most houses in Belgravia are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are purchasing in Belgravia in which case you should be looking for a Belgravia conveyancing practitioner and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a lessee you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the freeholder’spermission to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Belgravia which have approximately fifty years left on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Belgravia is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Belgravia conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Belgravia where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Belgravia conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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 prior to, or at the same time as 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 buyer.

After years of dialogue we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Belgravia. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Belgravia conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Belgravia premises is Flat 3 47 Cadogan Square in December 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable to the landord by the leaseholder for the lease extension was £732,935 This case affected 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 13.33 years.

What are the common defects that you see in leases for Belgravia properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Belgravia. All leases are unique and drafting errors can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• A provision for the recovery of money spent for the benefit of another party.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You will 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, Bank of Scotland, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Belgravia