I wish to rent out my leasehold flat in St Austell. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Your lease dictates relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in St Austell do not prevent subletting altogether – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

Back In 2003, I bought a leasehold house in St Austell. Conveyancing and TSB mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1991. The conveyancing solicitor in St Austell who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

First contact the Land Registry to be sure that this person is indeed the new freeholder. You do not need to instruct a St Austell conveyancing firm to do this as it can be done on-line for £3. You should note that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

I am looking at a couple of apartments in St Austell both have about forty five years unexpired on the leases. Will this present a problem?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in St Austell is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the marketability of the property. The majority of purchasers and mortgage companies, leases with under eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more positive note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of property with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with St Austell conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. More often than not it is possible to negotiate informally with the freeholder to extend the lease You may find he or she is happy to negotiate informally and willing to consider your offer straight off, without having to involve anyone else. This will save you time and money and it could help you reach a lower price on the lease. You need to ensure that any new terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in St Austell where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local St Austell conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm 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 kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the buyer need not have to sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed 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 buyer.

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in St Austell from the point of view of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in St Austell can be reduced where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold information needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in St Austell charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St Austell.

St Austell Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Queries before buying

Is anyone aware of any major works anticipated that will likely add a premium to the service fees? How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments? Where a St Austell lease has no more than 80 years it will have adverse implications on the salability of the property. It is worth checking with your mortgage company that they are willing to lend given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this will be. Remember, in most cases you will be be obliged to have been the owner of the premises for 24 months before you are eligible to extend the lease.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in St Austell