I am in need of some leasehold conveyancing in Penn and Ettingshall. Before I set the wheels in motion I want to be sure as to the remaining lease term.

If the lease is registered - and almost all are in Penn and Ettingshall - then the leasehold title will always include the basic details of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

My wife and I may need to sub-let our Penn and Ettingshall garden flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Penn and Ettingshall conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Even though your last Penn and Ettingshall conveyancing solicitor is not around 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 non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent from your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I have recently realised that I have 62 years remaining on my flat in Penn and Ettingshall. I need to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What should I do?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the Court. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the landlord. For most situations a specialist may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a solicitor both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Penn and Ettingshall.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a ground floor flat in Penn and Ettingshall. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they report fully next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• The unexpired lease term You should be advised as what happens when the lease ends, and aware of the importance of the 80 year mark

I work for a busy estate agency in Penn and Ettingshall where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Penn and Ettingshall conveyancing solicitors. Could you confirm 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 owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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 purchaser.

I am the registered owner of a 1 bedroom flat in Penn and Ettingshall, conveyancing having been completed 2010. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Penn and Ettingshall with an extended lease are worth £179,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2099

With only 74 years unexpired the likely cost is going to range between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Penn and Ettingshall