I would like to let out my leasehold apartment in Sudbury. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Even though your previous Sudbury conveyancing lawyer is not around you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement flat in Sudbury.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should discharge 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 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold house in Sudbury. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Sudbury who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Sudbury conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Sudbury from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Sudbury can be bypassed if you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers conveyancers.
• A minority of Sudbury leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this applies to your lease, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their lawyers.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

If you are supposed to have a share in the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Sudbury conveyancing deal. Where a duplicate share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but you should verify this via your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the remaining number of years is under 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an as soon as possible that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

We expect to complete our sale of a £225000 apartment in Sudbury in just under a week. The freeholder has quoted £420 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Sudbury?

For most leasehold sales in Sudbury conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Sudbury
• 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 Sudbury leasehold property is £350. For Sudbury 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.

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

You certainly can. We can put you in touch with a Sudbury conveyancing firm who can help.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Sudbury premises is Ground Floor Flat 79 London Road in September 2012. the Tribunal held that the premium payable for the lease extension should be £7,636 This case related to 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 74 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sudbury