My husband and I may need to rent out our Rawcliffe basement flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Rawcliffe conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A lease governs relations between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will set out if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. The majority of leases in Rawcliffe do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

I have just started marketing my basement apartment in Rawcliffe.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a half-yearly service charge demand – what should I do?

Your conveyancing lawyer is likely to suggest that you should pay the invoice 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 managing agents 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Rawcliffe from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Rawcliffe can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold information needed by the buyers lawyers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Rawcliffe leases often stipulate that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence from the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals in place you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.

Some Rawcliffe leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying the yearly service charge and the actual amount of the service charge should be quoted in the bank’s letter. You will therefore need to provide your estate agents with the actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where there is a current dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.

If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate can be a lengthy process and delays many a Rawcliffe home move. If a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £275000 garden flat in Rawcliffe in 5 days. The landlords agents has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Rawcliffe?

Rawcliffe conveyancing on leasehold apartments ordinarily involves administration charges invoiced by managing agents :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Rawcliffe
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Rawcliffe leasehold premises is £350. For Rawcliffe 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 required to provide answers.

Are there frequently found problems that you see in leases for Rawcliffe properties?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Rawcliffe. Most leases is drafted differently and legal mistakes in the legal wording can result in certain sections are erroneous. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the property
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Yorkshire Building Society, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I am the registered owner of a garden flat in Rawcliffe, conveyancing was carried out 3 years ago. 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? Similar properties in Rawcliffe with an extended lease are worth £266,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £60 charged once a year. The lease terminates on 21st October 2076

With just 55 years unexpired we estimate the premium for your lease extension to span between £27,600 and £31,800 as well as professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Rawcliffe