My partner and I may need to rent out our Tadley ground floor flat for a while due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Tadley conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to get any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

A small minority of properties in Tadley do contain a provision to say that subletting is only permitted with prior consent from the landlord. The landlord is not entitled to unreasonably withhold 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’m about to sell my basement apartment in Tadley.Conveyancing lawyers have not yet been instructed but I have just received a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is clear 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 management companies 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.

My wife and I purchased a leasehold flat in Tadley. Conveyancing and Barnsley Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone claiming to own the reversionary interest in the property. It included a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1996. The conveyancing solicitor in Tadley who previously acted has long since retired.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is indeed the registered owner of the freehold reversion. There is no need to incur the fees of a Tadley conveyancing lawyer to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

We expect to complete our sale of a £275000 apartment in Tadley next Tuesday . The landlords agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is the landlord entitled to charge exorbitant fees for a flat conveyance in Tadley?

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

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Tadley
• Supplying insurance information
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your lawyer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Tadley leasehold premises is £350. For Tadley 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 obliged to supply the information.

What makes a Tadley lease problematic?

Leasehold conveyancing in Tadley is not unique. Most leases are individual and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain clauses are missing. For example, if your lease is missing any of the following, it could be defective:

• A provision to repair to or maintain parts of the building
• A duty to insure the building
• Clauses dealing with recovering service charges for expenditure on the building or common parts.
• Service charge per centages that don't add up correctly leaving a shortfall

You will 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. Nationwide Building Society, Skipton Building Society, and Godiva Mortgages Ltd all have express conveyancing instructions when it comes to what is expected in a lease. If a mortgage lender believes that the lease is defective they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the purchaser to withdraw.

Tadley Conveyancing for Leasehold Flats - A selection of Questions you should ask Prior to buying

Plenty Tadley leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for the upkeep of the building invoiced by the landlord. Where you purchase the flat you will have to meet this liability, normally in instalments throughout the year. This can differ from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for bigger purpose-built buildings. In all likelihood there will be a rentcharge to be met annual, ordinarily this is not a exorbitant figure, say around £50-£100 but you should to enquire it because sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive. Are any of leasehold owners in dispute over their service charge liability? Does this lease have in excess of 90 years unexpired?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tadley