Frank (my husband) and I may need to rent out our St Mary Cray garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Your lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; specifically, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in St Mary Cray do not prevent subletting altogether – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

I am hoping to complete next month on a studio apartment in St Mary Cray. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they report fully tomorrow. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Does the lease prohibit wood flooring?

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Whether your lease has a provision for a reserve fund?

Repair and maintenance of the flat

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in St Mary Cray please ask your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in St Mary Cray

I work for a busy estate agency in St Mary Cray where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local St Mary Cray conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as 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. This means that the buyer need not have 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 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.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £275000 apartment in St Mary Cray in 8 days. The freeholder has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in St Mary Cray?

St Mary Cray conveyancing on leasehold flats nine out of ten times results in fees being raised by landlords agents :

• Completing pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in St Mary Cray
• 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 St Mary Cray leasehold property is £350. For St Mary Cray 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 supply answers.

I am the leaseholder of a ground flat in St Mary Cray. Given that I can not reach agreement with the freeholder, can the Leasehold valuation Tribunal determine the amount payable for the purchase of the freehold?

You certainly can. We are happy to put you in touch with a St Mary Cray conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Mary Cray flat is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case related to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.

What makes a St Mary Cray lease defective?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in St Mary Cray. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are wrong. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the premises
• Insurance obligations
• 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 can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Nationwide Building Society, Skipton Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express 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, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Mary Cray