Helen (my wife) and I may need to rent out our Sale 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Sale conveyancing firm in 2003 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Sale conveyancing lawyer is not available you can check your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or other appropriate person before subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. Such consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I today plan to offer on a house that seems to meet my requirements, at a great figure which is making it all the more appealing. I have since discovered that it's a leasehold rather than freehold. I would have thought that there are particular concerns purchasing a leasehold house in Sale. Conveyancing advisers have not yet been appointed. Will my lawyers set out the risks of buying a leasehold house in Sale ?

Most houses in Sale are freehold rather than leasehold. This is one of the situations where having a local conveyancer used to dealing with such properties who can help the conveyancing process. We note that you are buying in Sale so you should seriously consider shopping around for a Sale conveyancing solicitor and check that they are used to transacting on leasehold houses. First you will need to check the number of years remaining. Being a tenant you will not be at liberty to do whatever you want with the house. The lease will likely included provisions such as obtaining the freeholder’spermission to carry out alterations. You may also be required to pay a service charge towards the maintenance of the estate where the house is part of an estate. Your solicitor will report to you on the legal implications.

I am attracted to a two apartments in Sale which have in the region of 50 years left on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a protracted process. We advise that you get professional assistance from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area

I work for a busy estate agency in Sale where we have witnessed a number of flat sales jeopardised as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Sale conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner 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. This means that the buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible to extend the lease informally by agreement with the landlord 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.

All being well we will complete our sale of a £125000 flat in Sale on Wednesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £300 for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and previous years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Sale?

Sale conveyancing on leasehold maisonettes typically involves fees being levied by landlords agents :

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

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Sale leasehold property is £350. For Sale 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 supply the information.

Sale Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - Examples of Queries before buying

Who manages the block? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? Best to be warned whether redecorating or some other significant cost is due in the foreseeable future that will be shared between the leasehold owners and will materially impact the level of the maintenance costs or necessitate a specific payment.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Sale