My husband and I may need to rent out our Lymm 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Lymm conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your last Lymm conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the property. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission from your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Lymm. Conveyancing and Accord Mortgages Ltd mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1992. The conveyancing practitioner in Lymm who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Lymm conveyancing firm to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two flats in Lymm which have about forty five years remaining on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Lymm is a deteriorating asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the property. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of a residence with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Lymm conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Lymm. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation 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 be sure 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).

I work for a long established estate agent office in Lymm where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Lymm conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to start 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 for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 buyer.

Lymm Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Make sure you discover if the the lease includes any adverse restrictions in the lease. For instance it is very common in Lymm leases that pets are not permitted in in a block in Lymm. If you like the flatin Lymm however your dog is not allowed to move with you then you will be faced hard decision. What prohibitions exist in the Lymm Lease? Is the freehold reversion owned jointly by the tenants?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Lymm