Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Elmers End 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Elmers End conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Elmers End do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

There are only 72 years unexpired on my lease in Elmers End. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. In some cases a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Elmers End.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of apartments in Elmers End which have in the region of fifty years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage companies may be reluctant to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Elmers End where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Elmers End conveyancing firms. Can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, 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 purchaser.

Completion in due on the sale of our £450000 garden flat in Elmers End in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Elmers End?

Elmers End conveyancing on leasehold flats typically involves fees being raised by freeholders :

• Addressing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Elmers End
• 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 Elmers End leasehold property is £350. For Elmers End 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 provide the information.

Following years of negotiations we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Elmers End. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Elmers End conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Elmers End premises is Flats 55, 67 & 70 Melbourne Court Anerley Road in July 2013. The tribunal calculated that the premium for the extended lease at £48,366.00 for at 55, and £88,329.00 for ats 67 and 70 combined. This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 26.38 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Elmers End