My wife and I may need to rent out our Lambeth ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Lambeth conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Lambeth conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Expecting to exchange soon on a garden flat in Lambeth. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Whether the lease restricts you from letting out the property, or working from home

I am attracted to a couple of maisonettes in Lambeth both have approximately 50 years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold flat in Lambeth is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to zero years unexpired, the more it reduces the value of the premises. The majority of buyers and banks, leases with under 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Lambeth conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Lambeth. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

We expect to complete the sale of our £200000 apartment in Lambeth next Monday . The landlords agents has quoted £372 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Lambeth?

Lambeth conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes normally necessitates the purchaser’s lawyer submitting questions for the landlord to answer. Although the landlord is not legally bound to answer such questions the majority will be willing to do so. They may invoice a reasonable administration fee for responding to enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it is in excess of £800. The management information fee invoiced by the landlord must be sent together with a synopsis of rights and obligations in respect of administration charges, without which the invoice is technically not due. Reality however dictates that you have little option but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to complete the sale of your home.

We have reached the end of our tether in trying to purchase the freehold in Lambeth. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

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

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Lambeth property is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired lease term was 56 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Lambeth