Top Five Questions relating to Maryland leasehold conveyancing
Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Maryland 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Maryland conveyancing practice in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?
Even though your previous Maryland conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. The consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.
Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years remaining on my flat in Maryland. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What are my options?
If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the landlord. On the whole a specialist would be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Maryland.
I am hoping to complete next month on a basement flat in Maryland. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?
The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Maryland should include some of the following:
- How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and informed of the importance of the 80 year mark
My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Maryland. Conveyancing and Barclays Direct mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the freehold. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Maryland who acted for me is not around.Any advice?
The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Maryland conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.
I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Maryland where we see a few leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Maryland conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?
As long as 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. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, 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 buyer.
I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Maryland. In the absence of agreement between myself and the landlord, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium due for a lease extension?
Where there is a missing landlord or if there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the LVT to make a decision on the amount due.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Maryland property is 151A Ham Park Road in May 2010. The matter came before the Tribunal by way of a vesting order made on 12 June 2009 Deputy District Judge Coonan in Bow County Court. The tribunal decided that the sum payable for the m to be paid for the lease extension was £21,445 This case was in relation to 1 flat.
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