My fiance and I may need to rent out our Castelnau garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Castelnau conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Castelnau conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years remaining on my flat in Castelnau. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Castelnau.

Planning to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Castelnau. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Castelnau should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

I’m about to sell my basement flat in Castelnau.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 unless 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns buying a house with a leasehold title in Castelnau. Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Castelnau ?

The majority of houses in Castelnau are freehold and not leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. it is apparent that you are buying in Castelnau in which case you should be shopping around for a Castelnau conveyancing solicitor and check that they have experience in dealing with 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 with the house. The lease comes with conditions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out alterations. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer will appraise you on the various issues.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Castelnau. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to determine the premium.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Castelnau residence is 19 Crisp Road in June 2009. Following a vesting order (Under section 26 of the Leasehold Reform,Housing and Urban Development Act 1993) The tribunal determined that the premium payable for the acquisition of the freehold was £33,756,apportioned as to£12,285 for the lower at and £21,471for the upper fat. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 68.32 years.