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

Notwithstanding that your previous Murton conveyancing solicitor is not around you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is permitted. There may be a precondition that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a garden flat in Murton. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they are sending me a report within the next couple of days. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Murton should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord
• Will you be prohibited or prevented from having pets in the property?
• An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has
• Repair and maintenance of the flat
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames

I today plan to offer on a house that appears to be perfect, at a great figure which is making it more attractive. I have subsequently discovered that the title is leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a leasehold house in Murton. Conveyancing solicitors have not yet been appointed. Will they explain the issues?

The majority of houses in Murton are freehold and not leasehold. In this scenario it’s worth having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can assist with the conveyancing process. We note that you are purchasing in Murton in which case you should be shopping around for a Murton conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to advising on leasehold houses. As a matter of priority you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be entirely free to do whatever you want with the house. The lease comes with conditions for example obtaining the landlord’sconsent to carry out changes to the property. You may also be required to pay a maintenance charge towards the upkeep of the communal areas where the property is part of an estate. Your conveyancer should appraise you on the various issues.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two apartments in Murton both have about fifty years left on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Murton is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the value of the premises. For most purchasers and mortgage companies, 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 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 Murton 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.

What makes a Murton lease unmortgageable?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Murton. Most leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain sections are not included. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain parts of the property
• Insurance obligations
• 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

You could encounter a problem when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Halifax, Bank of Scotland, and Barclays Direct all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the buyer to withdraw.

I own a 1 bedroom flat in Murton, conveyancing having been completed 2003. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Murton with over 90 years remaining are worth £167,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 per annum. The lease ends on 21st October 2079

With only 53 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £28,500 and £33,000 plus costs.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. 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 you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.