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Common questions relating to St Bees leasehold conveyancing

Harry (my fiance) and I may need to let out our St Bees ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We used a St Bees conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not think at the time seek any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in St Bees do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience suggests 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 permission.

There are only 62 years left on my flat in St Bees. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is absent. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to track down the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer in relation to proving the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering St Bees.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed apartment in St Bees.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed 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 work for a long established estate agent office in St Bees where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have received contradictory information from local St Bees conveyancing firms. Please can you shed some light as to whether the seller of a flat can start the lease extension process for the buyer?

Provided that 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 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 at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in St Bees from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

  • A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in St Bees can be avoided where you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ solicitors.
  • If you have carried out any alterations to the property would they have required Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Most leases in St Bees state that internal structural alterations or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence from the Landlord approving such changes. Where you dont have the approvals to hand do not contact the landlord without checking with your solicitor in the first instance.
  • Some St Bees leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this applies to your lease, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers put in hand financial (bank) and professional references. The bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is able to meet 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 solicitors.
  • If you have had conflict with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved prior to the flat being put on the market. The buyers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to completion of the sale. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled ahead of 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 better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
  • If you hold a share in a the Management Company, you should make sure that you are holding the original share document. Organising a replacement share certificate is often a time consuming formality and slows down many a St Bees home move. If a duplicate share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

    • Leasehold Conveyancing in St Bees - Sample of Queries Prior to buying

      Where a St Bees lease has fewer than 80 years it will affect the marketability of the property. Check with your bank that they are happy with the length of the lease. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease sooner rather than later and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most St Beeslease extensions you would be be obliged to have owned the residence for a couple of years in order to be entitled to extend the lease. Is there a share of the freehold? The answer will be useful as a) areas may result in problems in the block as the communal areas may start to deteriorate where maintenance remain unpaid b) if the leaseholders have an issue with the managing agents you will need to have all the details

    Other Topics

    Lease Extensions in St Bees