Frank (my husband) and I may need to sub-let our Prestwich garden flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Prestwich conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Prestwich do not prevent subletting altogether – such a provision would undoubtedly devalue the property. In most cases there is a basic requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the tenancy agreement.

I only have Seventy years remaining on my flat in Prestwich. I am keen to get lease extension but my landlord is can not be found. What should I do?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be extended by the magistrate. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have used your best endeavours to locate the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to conduct investigations and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to investigating the landlord’s absence and the application to the County Court overseeing Prestwich.

Looking forward to complete next month on a basement flat in Prestwich. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they will have a report out to me within the next couple of days. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?
• Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or working from home
• Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change
• I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required
• 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
• Responsibility for repairing the window frames
• What options are open to you if a neighbour breach a clause of their lease?

Last month I purchased a leasehold flat in Prestwich. 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. Strange as it may seem, 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 ensure 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 Prestwich from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Prestwich can be avoided where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• Many landlords or managing agents in Prestwich levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Prestwich.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Prestwich leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such alterations. Where you fail to have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.
• If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is better to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but it would be advisable verify this via your conveyancers. A buyer’s lawyer will not be happy to advise their client to to exchange contracts if the remaining number of years is less than 75 years. It is therefore important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

I inherited a 1st floor flat in Prestwich, conveyancing having been completed half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimated range of the fair premium for a lease extension? Equivalent properties in Prestwich with a long lease are worth £176,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced annually. The lease expires on 21st October 2078

With only 52 years remaining on your lease we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £32,300 and £37,400 as well as costs.

The suggested premium range above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to advice on the actual costs in the absence of comprehensive investigations. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.