I want to let out my leasehold apartment in Redland. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your previous Redland conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the property. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent should not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

I am looking at a couple of maisonettes in Redland both have about 50 years left on the leases. should I be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Redland is a wasting asset as a result of the reducing lease term. The closer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the premises. The majority of buyers and lenders, leases with less than eighty 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 premises 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 Redland conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new 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.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Redland. Do I have any liability for service charges for periods before 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. 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 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).

I work for a busy estate agency in Redland where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Redland conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Redland with the purpose of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Redland can be bypassed where you instruct lawyers the minute you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Redland charge for supplying management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Redland.

Redland Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Sample of Questions you should ask before Purchasing

Are any of leasehold owners in arrears of their service charge payments? 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 notwithstanding that a managing agent is usually employed if the building is bigger than a house conversion, the managing agent retained by the leaseholders. It would be wise to find out if the the lease contains any unreasonable restrictions in the lease. For example it is very common in Redland leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Redland. If you like the propertyin Redland but your cat can’t move with you then you have a very difficult choice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Redland