Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Canary Wharf garden flat for a while due to a new job. We instructed a Canary Wharf conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Canary Wharf conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain permission via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I only have 72 years remaining on my lease in Canary Wharf. I am keen to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have done all that could be expected to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Canary Wharf.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Canary Wharf. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Canary Wharf should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

The length of the lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

Whether the lease restricts you from renting out the flat, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Canary Wharf please ask your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Canary Wharf

If all goes to plan we aim to complete the disposal of our £150000 flat in Canary Wharf in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Canary Wharf?

Canary Wharf conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually involves fees being raised by management companies :

• Completing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Canary Wharf
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Canary Wharf leasehold premises is £350. For Canary Wharf 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 am the leaseholder of a ground floor flat in Canary Wharf. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or where there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to judgment on the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Canary Wharf premises is 12, 14 & 16 Hull Close in May 2010. the Tribunal determined that the premium payable for the acquisition of the freehold to the subject premises was the sum of £18,300 This case affected 3 flats. The unexpired term was 101.61 years.

What makes a Canary Wharf lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Canary Wharf is not unique. All leases is drafted differently and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Skipton Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Canary Wharf