I am intending to rent out my leasehold flat in Runcorn. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for their consent?

Even though your previous Runcorn conveyancing solicitor is no longer available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years left on my lease in Runcorn. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What options are available to me?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application 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. You will be obliged to prove that you have used your best endeavours to find the landlord. On the whole an enquiry agent would be useful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Runcorn.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a garden flat in Runcorn. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they will have a report out to me tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Runcorn should include some of the following:

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

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Runcorn. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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 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).

I am employed by a long established estate agency in Runcorn where we see a few leasehold sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Runcorn conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 buyer.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Runcorn - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

Most Runcorn leasehold properties will have a service bill for the upkeep of the block set by the landlord. Should you purchase the flat you will have to meet this amount, usually quarterly during the year. This could differ from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay annual, this is usually not a large figure, say around £25-£75 but you need to check it because on occasion it could be prohibitively expensive. In the main the outlay for major works tend not to be built into the maintenance charges, although a few managing agents in Runcorn require tenants to contribute towards a reserve fund created for the specific intention of building a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. How much is the maintenance charge and ground rent on the property?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Runcorn