I would like to let out my leasehold apartment in Newton Aycliffe. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your last Newton Aycliffe conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you must seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have just appointed agents to market my basement apartment in Newton Aycliffe.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

It best that you pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Newton Aycliffe. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Newton Aycliffe who acted for me is not around.Any advice?

First make enquiries of HMLR to make sure that this person is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. It is not necessary to instruct a Newton Aycliffe conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. Rest assured that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Newton Aycliffe. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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).

We expect to complete our sale of a £ 475000 flat in Newton Aycliffe on Thursday in a week. The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Newton Aycliffe?

Newton Aycliffe conveyancing on leasehold apartments usually necessitates administration charges levied by management companies :

• Addressing pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Newton Aycliffe
• 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 lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Newton Aycliffe leasehold premises is £350. For Newton Aycliffe 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 supply the information.

I bought a studio flat in Newton Aycliffe, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2005. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Comparable properties in Newton Aycliffe with a long lease are worth £209,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2076

With 50 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £39,900 and £46,200 plus costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs 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 taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.