Harry (my fiance) and I may need to rent out our Tavistock basement flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We used a Tavistock conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

Some leases for properties in Tavistock do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord is not entitled to 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.

Back In 2000, I bought a leasehold house in Tavistock. Conveyancing and Aldermore mortgage went though with no issue. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the reversionary interest in the property. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1994. The conveyancing solicitor in Tavistock who previously acted has long since retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is make enquiries of the Land Registry to make sure that the individual claiming to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. There is no need to instruct a Tavistock conveyancing practitioner to do this as it can be done on-line for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the legitimate freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I've recently bought a leasehold flat in Tavistock. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to ensure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I work for a reputable estate agent office in Tavistock where we have witnessed a number of leasehold sales derailed due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Tavistock conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the seller of a flat can initiate the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or simultaneously with completion of the sale.

An alternative approach is 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.

What makes a Tavistock lease problematic?

There is nothing unique about leasehold conveyancing in Tavistock. All leases are unique and legal mistakes in the legal wording can sometimes mean that certain provisions are not included. The following missing provisions could result in a defective lease:

• Repairing obligations to or maintain elements of the property
• 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

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property primarily because it impacts on the ability to obtain a mortgage on the property. Lloyds TSB Bank, The Royal Bank of Scotland, and Britannia all have very detailed requirements when it comes to what is expected in a lease. Where a lender has been advised by their lawyers that the lease does not cover certain provisions they may refuse to grant the mortgage, obliging the purchaser to withdraw.

Tavistock Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries before Purchasing

Who are the managing agents? Where a Tavistock lease has fewer than eighty years it will impact the salability of the flat. It is worth checking with your bank that they are willing to lend given the lease term. Leases with less than 80 years remaining means that you will almost definitely need a lease extension at some point and it is worth finding out what this will be. Remember, in most cases you will need to own the property for 24 months in order to be eligible to extend the lease. Many Tavistock leasehold apartments will be liable to pay a service charge for maintenance of the building set by the management company. If you buy the apartment you will have to meet this liability, usually in instalments during the year. This could vary from several hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large common areas. In all likelihood there will be a ground rent to be met yearly, this is usually not a exorbitant figure, say approximately £25-£75 but you should to enquire as occasionally it can be surprisingly expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Tavistock