Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Crews Hill garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Crews Hill conveyancing firm in 2002 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?

Your lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Crews Hill do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a copy of the sublease.

Expecting to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Crews Hill. Conveyancing solicitors assured me that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and informed of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years
• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Are pets allowed in the flat?
• You should be told what constitutes a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Crews Hill conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Crews Hill conveyancing firm) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non Crews Hill conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?
• If they are not ALEP accredited then what is the reason?

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Crews Hill from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Crews Hill can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Crews Hill charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Crews Hill.
• A minority of Crews Hill leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the annual 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where a dispute is unresolved. 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 prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should double-check by asking your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £ 175000 flat in Crews Hill in just under a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Crews Hill?

Crews Hill conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually requires the purchaser’s conveyancer sending questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions the majority will be willing to assist. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it exceeds £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, without which the invoice is not strictly payable. In reality one has little option but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Following months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Crews Hill. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the sum to be paid.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement matter before the tribunal for a Crews Hill flat is 23 Beaconsfield Road in July 2013. The Tribunals decided that the amount payable was £31,203 for the freehold. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 70.31 years.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Crews Hill - Examples of Questions you should ask before buying

It would be a good idea to find out if there are any onerous prohibitions in the lease. By way of example some leases prohibit pets being permitted in certain buildings in Crews Hill. If you love the propertyin Crews Hill but your cat is not allowed to make the move with you then you will be faced difficult determination. The prefered form of lease arrangement is where the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders have being in charge if their destiny and notwithstanding that a managing agent is frequently employed where it is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent is directed by the tenants.