Helen (my wife) and I may need to sub-let our Needham Market 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Needham Market conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease dictates relations between the freeholder and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Needham Market do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

I have recently realised that I have Sixty One years unexpired on my lease in Needham Market. I now want to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to track down the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and prepare an expert document to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Needham Market.

Planning to exchange soon on a studio apartment in Needham Market. Conveyancing lawyers have said that they will have a report out to me next week. What should I be looking out for?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Needham Market should include some of the following:

• You should receive a copy of the lease

Does the lease prevent you from letting out the flat, or having a home office for business

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Needham Market please enquire of your lawyer in ahead of your conveyancing in Needham Market

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a two maisonettes in Needham Market which have about fifty years left on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

A lease is a right to use the property for a period of time. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and results in it becoming more costly to extend the lease. For this reason it is often a good idea to extend the lease term. It is often difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage lenders may be unwilling to lend money on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a protracted process. We recommend you get professional help from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this arena

All being well we will complete our sale of a £475000 garden flat in Needham Market next Tuesday . The landlords agents has quoted £396 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Needham Market?

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

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Needham Market
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Needham Market leasehold property is £350. For Needham Market 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 obliged to provide answers.

Needham Market Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should consider Prior to Purchasing

Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? The best form of lease arrangement is a share of the freehold. In this arrangement the lessees enjoy control and even though a managing agent is frequently employed if the building is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. Most Needham Market leasehold properties will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block invoiced by the landlord. Where you acquire the apartment you will have to meet this charge, normally quarterly during the year. This may be anything from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal areas. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large sum, say around £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it could be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Needham Market