Frank (my husband) and I may need to rent out our Shenley 1st floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Shenley conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Shenley do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably withhold but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience dictates that problems are usually caused by unsatisfactory tenants rather than owner-occupiers and for that reason you can expect the freeholder to take up the references and consider them carefully before granting consent.

I have just started marketing my basement flat in Shenley.Conveyancing solicitors are to be appointed soon but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Shenley. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing practitioner in Shenley who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. You do not need to instruct a Shenley conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for £3. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Shenley where we have experienced a number of leasehold sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Shenley conveyancing solicitors. Could you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can instigate the lease extension formalities 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 proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed prior to, 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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Shenley with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shenley can be avoided if you appoint lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and ask them to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the buyers lawyers.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s consent? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in Shenley state that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord approving such works. Should you fail to have the consents in place do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.

Following months of correspondence we cannot agree with our landlord on how much the lease extension should cost for our flat in Shenley. Can we issue an application to the Residential Property Tribunal Service?

if there is a missing freeholder or if there is dispute about what the lease extension should cost, under the relevant statutes it is possible to make an application to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal to assess the amount due.

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Shenley premises is Ground Floor Maisonette 17 Milton Road in January 2014. The Tribunal determined the premium payable by the Applicant to the should be £13,299 This case affected 1 flat. The the number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 71.73 years.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Shenley