My fiance and I may need to sub-let our Bromley Common garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Bromley Common conveyancing practice in 2003 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 last Bromley Common conveyancing solicitor is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet without prior consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I am hoping to put an offer on a small detached house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since been informed that the title is leasehold as opposed to freehold. I would have thought that there are issues buying a leasehold house in Bromley Common. Conveyancing advisers have are soon to be appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Bromley Common ?

The majority of houses in Bromley Common are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are purchasing in Bromley Common so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Bromley Common conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to conduct changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a contribution towards the maintenance of the communal areas where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor should appraise you on the various issues.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Bromley Common. Conveyancing and Nottingham Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1993. The conveyancing practitioner in Bromley Common who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to incur the fees of a Bromley Common conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for a few pound. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Bromley Common from the perspective of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Bromley Common can be reduced if you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Bromley Common leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
• Some Bromley Common leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.
• If you have had any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to present the dispute as over rather than ongoing.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is under 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on the disposal of our £ 500000 flat in Bromley Common in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Bromley Common?

Bromley Common conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes nine out of ten times results in administration charges raised by management companies :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Bromley Common
• 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 Bromley Common leasehold property is £350. For Bromley Common 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 answers.

I have had difficulty in trying to purchase the freehold in Bromley Common. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

Most definitely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Bromley Common conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Bromley Common residence is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 50.57 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Bromley Common - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Its a good idea to discover as much as possible about the company managing the block as they will either make your life much simpler or much more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters such as the upkeep of the communal areas. Enquire of other people what they think of them. Finally, find out the dates that the service charges are due to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. Who are the managing agents? How is the lease structured?