My husband and I may need to let out our Grove Park garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Grove Park conveyancing firm in 2004 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?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Grove Park do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

You should [be sent a copy of the lease|receive a copy of the lease]

Expecting to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Grove Park. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• You should be told what counts as a Nuisance in the lease
• Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• The landlord’s rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease?

For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Grove Park please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Grove Park

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Grove Park with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Grove Park can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start marketing the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers solicitors.
• Some Grove Park leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, you should 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 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 solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where a dispute is unresolved. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should make sure that you have the original share certificate. Arranging a new share certificate can be a lengthy process and slows down many a Grove Park home move. If a new share is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check via your lawyers. A buyer’s lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Completion in due on the sale of our £ 350000 maisonette in Grove Park next Wednesday . The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Grove Park?

Grove Park conveyancing on leasehold flats usually results in fees being levied by freeholders :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Grove Park
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Grove Park leasehold property is £350. For Grove Park 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 obliged to provide the information.

I have tried to negotiate informally with with my landlord for a lease extension without getting anywhere. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal decide on such issues? Can you recommend a Grove Park conveyancing firm to represent me?

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Grove Park conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Grove Park premises is 49 Woodstock Court Burnt Ash Hill in May 2012. the payment of £64,116 by the leaseholder was the premium which the Tribunal found due for the lease extension in this case. This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 23.26 years.

What makes a Grove Park lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Grove Park. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• 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.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Birmingham Midshires, Chelsea Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Grove Park Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

The best form of lease arrangement is where the freehold reversion is in the ownership of the leaseholders. In this situation the leaseholders have control and even though a managing agent is usually retained if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.