I would like to rent out my leasehold apartment in Motspur Park. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your previous Motspur Park conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Expecting to exchange soon on a ground floor flat in Motspur Park. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they are sending me a report on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• Defining your rights in respect of common areas in the building.For instance, does the lease provide for a right of way over an accessway or staircase?

Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?

Whether the lease restricts you from subletting the flat, or working from home

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease? For details of the information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Motspur Park please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Motspur Park

I work for a long established estate agency in Motspur Park where we see a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Motspur Park conveyancing firms. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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 buyer.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Motspur Park with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Motspur Park can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Motspur Park state that internal structural alterations or installing wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you dont have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in advance.

A minority of Motspur Park leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 purchasers or their solicitors.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a new share certificate can be a time consuming formality and frustrates many a Motspur Park conveyancing transaction. If a new share certificate is needed, do contact the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this sooner rather than later.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 80 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Completion in due on our sale of a £225000 garden flat in Motspur Park next Tuesday . The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Motspur Park?

Motspur Park conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes usually involves fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Motspur Park
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Motspur Park leasehold premises is £350. For Motspur 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 required to provide answers.

Following months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Motspur Park. Does the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal have jurisdiction to calculate the appropriate figures?

in cases where there is a missing freeholder or where 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 First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to assess the price payable.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Motspur Park residence is 33 The Maisonettes Alberta Avenue in June 2014. the Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of a new lease be the sum of £20,680 (Twenty Thousand six hundred and eighty pounds). This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 60.43 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Motspur Park