Frank (my husband) and I may need to let out our Menai Bridge garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Menai Bridge conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Menai Bridge conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. Such consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 68 years left on my lease in Menai Bridge. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to locate the freeholder. For most situations a specialist would be helpful to try and locate and to produce a report to be used as evidence that the landlord can not be located. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Menai Bridge.

I am attracted to a couple of apartments in Menai Bridge both have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Menai Bridge is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the marketability of the property. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with less than eighty years become less and less marketable. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the premises 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 Menai Bridge 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 They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. 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.

I work for a busy estate agent office in Menai Bridge where we have witnessed a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received inconsistent advice from local Menai Bridge conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension process for the buyer?

As long as the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

What makes a Menai Bridge lease unacceptable for security purposes?

Leasehold conveyancing in Menai Bridge is not unique. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain provisions are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain elements of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

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. Birmingham Midshires, The Mortgage Works, and Aldermore all have express conveyancing instructions 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 grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to pull out.

I acquired a 2 bed flat in Menai Bridge, conveyancing formalities finalised 2010. Can you give me give me an indication of the likely cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Menai Bridge with over 90 years remaining are worth £267,000. The ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2103

With just 77 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £10,500 and £12,000 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to provide the actual costs in the absence of detailed due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Menai Bridge