My fiance and I may need to rent out our New Romney ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a New Romney conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in New Romney do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

I own a leasehold flat in New Romney. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1995. The conveyancing solicitor in New Romney who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a New Romney conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. 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.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in New Romney. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee 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 am employed by a busy estate agency in New Romney where we see a number of flat sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received conflicting advice from local New Romney conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the seller of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

What are your top tips when it comes to finding a New Romney conveyancing firm to deal with our lease extension?

If you are instructing a solicitor for lease extension works (regardless if they are a New Romney conveyancing practice) it is imperative that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of conveyancing. We suggested that you make enquires with two or three firms including non New Romney conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then that’s a bonus. Some following of questions might be helpful:

• What volume of lease extensions have they carried out in New Romney in the last twenty four months?

Leasehold Conveyancing in New Romney - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Please inform me if there are any major works in the planning that will increase the maintenance fees? How many years remain on the lease? Please note if it is less than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the value of the apartment. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are content with the length of the lease. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of what this would cost. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the residence for 24 months before you are legally able to exercise a lease extension.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in New Romney