My wife and I may need to sub-let our Salcombe 1st floor flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We used a Salcombe conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Salcombe conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord for their consent.

I have recently realised that I have 62 years unexpired on my lease in Salcombe. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is absent. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. However, you will be required to prove that you have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a property lawyer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Salcombe.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my ground floor flat in Salcombe.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a yearly maintenance charge demand – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear the service charge 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 until 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. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I've recently bought a leasehold house in Salcombe. 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. 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Salcombe with the intention of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Salcombe can be avoided if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the purchasers’ conveyancers.
• If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s approval? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Salcombe state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Where you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor before hand.
• Some Salcombe leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 buyers or their lawyers.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a property where a dispute is unsettled. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.
• If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share certificate. Obtaining a replacement share certificate is often a lengthy process and delays many a Salcombe conveyancing transaction. If a duplicate share certificate is required, do contact the company officers or managing agents (if applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Salcombe Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Is there a share of the freehold? Where a Salcombe lease has fewer than 80 years it will impact the salability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably need a lease extension sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be required to have been the owner of the residence for 24 months before you are eligible to exercise a lease extension.