My fiance and I may need to let out our Shoreham By Sea 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We instructed a Shoreham By Sea conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Shoreham By Sea do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. 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 only have 72 years left on my lease in Shoreham By Sea. I now want to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to find the landlord. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Shoreham By Sea.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold house in Shoreham By Sea. Conveyancing and Skipton Building Society mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Shoreham By Sea who previously acted has now retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is in fact the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to instruct a Shoreham By Sea conveyancing lawyer to do this as it can be done on-line for a few pound. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate landlord, 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 Shoreham By Sea where we see a few flat sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Shoreham By Sea conveyancing solicitors. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can instigate 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

Alternatively, it may be possible 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.

All being well we will complete the sale of our £175000 apartment in Shoreham By Sea next Wednesday . The freeholder has quoted £396 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Shoreham By Sea?

Shoreham By Sea conveyancing on leasehold flats normally involves the purchaser’s conveyancer sending questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to respond to such questions most will be content to assist. They are at liberty charge a reasonable charge for answering questions or supplying documentation. There is no set fee. The average costs for the information that you are referring to is £350, in some transactions it is in excess of £800. The administration charge levied by the landlord must be sent together with a summary of rights and obligations in respect of administration fees, otherwise the invoice is technically not due. In reality you have little choice but to pay whatever is demanded if you want to sell the property.

Leasehold Conveyancing in Shoreham By Sea - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Does this lease have more than 85 years remaining? Be sure to investigate if the the lease includes any adverse restrictions in the lease. For example it is reasonably common in Shoreham By Sea leases that pets are not permitted in certain buildings in Shoreham By Sea. If you love the flatin Shoreham By Sea yet your cat is not allowed to make the move with you then you have a very hard choice. Plenty Shoreham By Sea leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building levied on behalf of the landlord. Where you buy the flat you will have to pay this amount, usually periodically during the year. This may vary from a few hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built blocks. There will also be a rentcharge for you to pay annual, this is usually not a significant figure, say about £50-£100 but you should to enquire as on occasion it can be prohibitively expensive.

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Lease Extensions in Shoreham By Sea