Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Kilburn 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Kilburn conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Kilburn conveyancing lawyer is not available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Kilburn which have in the region of fifty years unexpired on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Kilburn. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As the lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease deteriorate 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 difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on properties of this type. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

I am employed by a busy estate agent office in Kilburn where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Kilburn conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can commence 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 start 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 sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Kilburn conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Kilburn conveyancing firm) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you speak with several firms including non Kilburn conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If they are not ALEP accredited then why not?

Following years of negotiations we simply can't agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Kilburn. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Where there is a missing freeholder or where there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to arrive at the price.

An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Kilburn flat is 4 & 4A Charteris Road in June 2009. the Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the enfranchisement of 4/4a Charteris Road to be £15,510 for at 4and £15,694 for at 4a This case related to 2 flats. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 70.02 years.

What makes a Kilburn lease defective?

Leasehold conveyancing in Kilburn is not unique. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain provisions are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair 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 will encounter difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Accord Mortgages Ltd, Leeds Building Society, and TSB all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Kilburn