I wish to rent out my leasehold apartment in Preston Park. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Preston Park do not prevent an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

Looking forward to exchange soon on a basement flat in Preston Park. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they will have a report out to me on Monday. What should I be looking out for?

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

• You should be sent a copy of the lease

Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, landlord

Are you allowed to have a pet in the flat?

You should have a good understanding of the insurance provisions

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your property and do you know what it means in practice?

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Preston Park please ask your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Preston Park

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Preston Park. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before completion of my purchase?

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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Preston Park from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Preston Park can be avoided if you instruct lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Preston Park levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Preston Park.

If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic as opposed to unresolved.

If you hold a share in a the freehold, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Arranging a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming process and frustrates many a Preston Park home move. Where a duplicate share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where applicable) for this as soon as possible.

You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to where the remaining number of years is under 80 years. It is therefore important at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your premises on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £150000 apartment in Preston Park in nine days. The landlords agents has quoted £360 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Preston Park?

Preston Park conveyancing on leasehold flats ordinarily results in fees being invoiced by management companies :

• Addressing conveyancing due diligence enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Preston Park
• 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 solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Preston Park leasehold premises is £350. For Preston Park 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.

Preston Park Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Queries before Purchasing

The prefered form of lease arrangement is if the freehold interest is owned by the leaseholders. In this scenario the leaseholders enjoy being in charge if their destiny and even though a managing agent is usually employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent acts for the leaseholders themselves. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge payments? Many Preston Park leasehold properties will incur a service charge for maintenance of the block set on behalf of the freeholder. If you buy the property you will have to pay this amount, normally quarterly accross the year. This could vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for blocks with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a rentcharge to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant amount, say about £50-£100 but you need to check as sometimes it can be many hundreds of pounds.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Preston Park