Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Seven Kings garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Seven Kings conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Seven Kings do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a provision would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

I have recently realised that I have 72 years remaining on my flat in Seven Kings. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, 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 extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. In some cases a specialist may be useful to conduct investigations and to produce a report to be used as proof that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Seven Kings.

I work for a long established estate agency in Seven Kings where we see a few flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local Seven Kings conveyancing firms. Could you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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 prior to, or at the same time as 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.

What advice can you give us when it comes to finding a Seven Kings conveyancing firm to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Seven Kings conveyancing practice) it is essential that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you make enquires with several firms including non Seven Kings conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. Where the conveyancing practice is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• Can they put you in touch with client in Seven Kings who can give a testimonial?

I am the proprietor of a garden flat in Seven Kings. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal make a decision on the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

Absolutely. We can put you in touch with a Seven Kings conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Seven Kings flat is 49 Aldborough Road South in July 2012. The Tribunal decided that the premium payable for the grant of the new lease was £13,925 This case affected 1 flat. The the unexpired residue of the current lease was 61.36 years.

What makes a Seven Kings lease unmortgageable?

Leasehold conveyancing in Seven Kings is not unique. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are wrong. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease will likely cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Barclays , Bank of Scotland, and Alliance & Leicester all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Seven Kings