Harry (my fiance) and I may need to sub-let our Stallingborough 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Stallingborough conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Stallingborough 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 review 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.

I am hoping to exchange soon on a garden flat in Stallingborough. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

The report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough should include some of the following:

• Details of the parties to the lease, for example these could be the leaseholder (you), head lessor, freeholder

Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or having a home office for business

Ground rent - how much and when you need to pay, and also know whether this is subject to change

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Stallingborough please enquire of your solicitor in advance of your conveyancing in Stallingborough

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough with the intention of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough can be bypassed if you get in touch lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information which will be required by the buyers solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Stallingborough levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold property. You or your lawyers should enquire as to the actual amount of the charges. The management information sought on or before finding a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most frequent cause of delay in leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough.

If you have carried out any alterations to the residence would they have required Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example laid down wooden flooring? Stallingborough leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring necessitate a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. Where you dont have the approvals to hand you should not contact the landlord without contacting your lawyer before hand.

A minority of Stallingborough leases require Landlord’s consent to the sale and approval of the buyers. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is financially capable of paying the annual 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 service charge figures so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their solicitors.

If there is a history of any disputes with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are resolved before the property is marketed. The buyers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is an ongoing dispute. You may need to swallow your pride and pay any arrears of service charge or resolve the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. It is therefore preferable to have any dispute settled prior to the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You are still duty bound to disclose particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than ongoing.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £400000 garden flat in Stallingborough in 8 days. The management company has quoted £312 for Landlord’s certificate, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Stallingborough?

For most leasehold sales in Stallingborough conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

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

Your conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Stallingborough leasehold premises is £350. For Stallingborough 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 provide answers.

In relation to leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough what are the most frequent lease problems?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Stallingborough. All leases are individual and drafting errors can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the building
• Insurance obligations
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Maintenance charge proportions which don’t add up to the correct percentage

You could have difficulties when selling your property if you have a defective lease primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. National Westminster Bank, The Mortgage Works, and Aldermore all have very detailed conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease is problematic they may refuse to provide security, obliging the purchaser to pull out.

I invested in buying a 1 bedroom flat in Stallingborough, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you let me have an estimate of the premium that my landlord can legally expect in return for granting a renewal of my lease? Similar flats in Stallingborough with an extended lease are worth £265,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 levied per year. The lease comes to an end on 21st October 2092

With only 67 years left to run we estimate the price of your lease extension to be between £14,300 and £16,400 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be considered and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Stallingborough