My partner and I may need to rent out our North Ockendon garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a North Ockendon conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous North Ockendon conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain permission from your landlord or other appropriate person in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in North Ockendon.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – should I leave it to the buyer to sort out?

It best that you pay the invoice as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer until the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to tick a lot of boxes, at a reasonable price which is making it more attractive. I have since been informed that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a leasehold house in North Ockendon. Conveyancing lawyers have are about to be appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in North Ockendon are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor who is familiar with the area can help the conveyancing process. It is clear that you are buying in North Ockendon so you should seriously consider looking for a North Ockendon conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. As a leaseholder you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions for example obtaining the freeholder’sconsent to conduct changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your solicitor should report to you on the legal implications.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in North Ockendon. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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).

I am employed by a long established estate agency in North Ockendon where we see a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received contradictory information from local North Ockendon conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

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 purchaser.

I inherited a a ground floor purpose built flat in North Ockendon. In the absence of agreement between myself and the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the premium payable for a lease extension?

if there is a missing landlord or where there is disagreement about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to decide the sum to be paid.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a North Ockendon property is 37 Lodge Court High Street in November 2013. the decision of the LVT was that the premium to be paid for the new lease was £25,559 This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 57.5 years.

North Ockendon Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

Most North Ockendon leasehold apartments will incur a service charge for maintenance of the building invoiced by the landlord. Where you buy the property you will have to meet this amount, normally periodically throughout the year. This could vary from a couple of hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to enquire as occasionally it can be surprisingly expensive. Please tell me if there are any major works anticipated that will likely add a premium to the maintenance costs?