I wish to rent out my leasehold flat in The Hale. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

The lease governs the relationship between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in The Hale do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the sublease.

I've found a house that appears to meet my requirements, at a great price which is making it all the more appealing. I have since found out that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I am assuming that there are particular concerns purchasing a house with a leasehold title in The Hale. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in The Hale are freehold rather than leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local solicitor used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in The Hale so you should seriously consider shopping around for a The Hale conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the unexpired lease term. As a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want to the property. The lease will likely included provisions such as requiring the landlord’spermission to carry out changes to the property. It may be necessary to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the property is part of an estate. Your lawyer should report to you on the legal implications.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in The Hale. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before my ownership?

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in The Hale with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in The Hale can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in The Hale charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in The Hale.
• A minority of The Hale leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are able to meet 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the buyers or their solicitors.
• If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is unsettled. You may have to bite the bullet and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Organising a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming formality and frustrates many a The Hale home move. Where a reissued share is necessary, do contact the company director and secretary or managing agents (if relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

Completion in due on the disposal of our £ 150000 apartment in The Hale in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and 3 years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in The Hale?

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

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in The Hale
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for The Hale leasehold premises is £350. For The Hale 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 the information.

I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in The Hale. Can the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal adjudicate on premiums?

if 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 LVT to make a decision on the price.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a The Hale premises is 20 Orchard Court Stonegrove in June 2009. The tribunal decided that a premium of £11,040 should be payable for the new lease This case related to 1 flat. The the unexpired term as at the valuation date was 71.55 years.

I acquired a basement flat in The Hale, conveyancing was carried out 2010. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Comparable properties in The Hale with over 90 years remaining are worth £172,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 per annum. The lease runs out on 21st October 2086

With only 60 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £22,800 and £26,400 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed investigations. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.