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

Notwithstanding that your last Southall conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain permission via your landlord or some other party before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining permission. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just started marketing my garden flat in Southall.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge 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 unless 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in Southall both have in the region of forty five years remaining on the leases. should I be concerned?

There are plenty of short leases in Southall. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease deteriorate and it becomes more expensive to extend the lease. This is why it is often a good idea to increase the term of the lease. Sometimes it is difficulties arise selling premises with a short lease as mortgage companies may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

I work for a busy estate agency in Southall where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have received conflicting advice from local Southall conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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 can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

What are your top tips when it comes to choosing a Southall conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a solicitor for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Southall conveyancing practice) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We suggested that you talk with several firms including non Southall conveyancing practices before you instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• How experienced is the practice with lease extension legislation?

Following years of dialogue we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Southall. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

Absolutely. We are happy to put you in touch with a Southall conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Southall premises is 33 Barbican Road in January 2013. The Tribunals calculation of the lease extension premium payable was £17,592. This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 55.12 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Southall