My husband and I may need to let out our Prescot garden flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Prescot conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Even though your previous Prescot conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to obtain permission from your landlord or some other party before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I only have Fifty years remaining on my lease in Prescot. I need to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and prepare a report to be accepted by the court as evidence that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court covering Prescot.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Prescot which have about fifty years unexpired on the lease term. Do I need to be concerned?

There are no two ways about it. A leasehold flat in Prescot is a deteriorating asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it reduces the salability of the premises. The majority of buyers and mortgage companies, leases with less than 75 years become less and less attractive. On a more positive 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 Prescot conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Prescot with the purpose of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Prescot can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Prescot charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Prescot.

In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Prescot state that internal structural changes or installing wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Should you fail to have the approvals in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your lawyer in the first instance.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unresolved.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your solicitors. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £250000 apartment in Prescot next Tuesday . The managing agents has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a leasehold conveyance in Prescot?

Prescot conveyancing on leasehold flats typically involves administration charges invoiced by landlords agents :

• Answering conveyancing due diligence questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Prescot
• Supplying insurance information
• 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 Prescot leasehold property is £350. For Prescot 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.

Prescot Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to Purchasing

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? Who are the managing agents? The best form of lease structure is a share of the freehold. In this situation the tenants enjoy control and although a managing agent is usually retained where it is larger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Prescot