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

Notwithstanding that your last Vauxhall conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 72 years left on my lease in Vauxhall. I now want to extend my lease but my freeholder is can not be found. What should I do?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent should be useful to carry out a search and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Vauxhall.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Vauxhall from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Vauxhall can be reduced if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• Many landlords or Management Companies in Vauxhall levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Vauxhall.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Vauxhall state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such works. Should you fail to have the paperwork in place do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

Some Vauxhall leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.

We expect to complete the sale of our £125000 maisonette in Vauxhall in just under a week. The management company has quoted £324 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Vauxhall?

Vauxhall conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically necessitates fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Vauxhall
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Vauxhall leasehold property is £350. For Vauxhall 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 provide the information.

I have given up trying to purchase the freehold in Vauxhall. Can this matter be resolved via the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal?

in cases where there is a absentee freeholder or if there is disagreement about the premium for a lease extension, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 it is possible to make an application to the First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) to calculate the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Vauxhall premises is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 56 years.

What makes a Vauxhall lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Vauxhall is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are erroneous. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the building
• 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 will likely cause problems when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Yorkshire Building Society, Bank of Scotland, and Clydesdale all have express requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to provide security, forcing the buyer to pull out.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Vauxhall