I want to sublet my leasehold flat in St Johns. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Your lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in St Johns do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

I am hoping to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in St Johns. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in St Johns. Conveyancing and Leeds Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing practitioner in St Johns who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. It is not necessary to incur the fees of a St Johns conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am employed by a busy estate agency in St Johns where we have experienced a few leasehold sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given inconsistent advice from local St Johns conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £150000 maisonette in St Johns on Friday in a week. The freeholder has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in St Johns?

St Johns conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes often necessitates the buyer’s conveyancer sending enquiries for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is under no legal obligation to address such questions most will be willing to do so. They may charge a reasonable administration fee for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average fee for the information that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some situations it is above £800. The administration charge invoiced by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of entitlements and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that you have no choice but to pay whatever is requested of you if you want to exchange contracts with the buyer.

Having spent years of correspondence we are unable to agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in St Johns. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

in cases where there is a missing landlord or where there is dispute about the premium for a lease extension, under the relevant statutes you can apply to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to make a decision on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Johns premises is 73 Walerand Road in August 2012. the result of the findings of the Tribunal led to a premium to be paid for the extended lease in respect of Flat 73 in the sum of £10,040. The premium applicable in respect of Flat 85 was £5,710. This case related to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 72 years.