My wife and I may need to let out our Tilbury basement flat temporarily due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Tilbury conveyancing practice in 2004 but they have closed and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

The lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the leaseholder; in particular, it will say if subletting is not allowed, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Tilbury do not contain an absolute prevention of subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold property in Tilbury. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. However, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. A critical element 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 Tilbury where we have experienced a number of flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Tilbury conveyancing firms. Please can you confirm whether the vendor of a flat can commence the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means 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 prior to, or simultaneously with 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 purchaser.

Do you have any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Tilbury with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tilbury can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Tilbury levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should find out the fee that they propose to charge. The management pack sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Tilbury.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s approval? In particular have you installed wooden flooring? Tilbury leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or addition of wooden flooring require a licence issued by the Landlord consenting to such changes. Where you fail to have the approvals in place you should not communicate with the landlord without checking with your lawyer first.
• Some Tilbury leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should notify your estate agents to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. Any bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are financially capable of paying 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 service charge figures 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 settled before the property is marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current 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 will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as over as opposed to unsettled.

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

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

• A provision to repair 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

A defective lease can cause issues when trying to sell a property as they can affect a potential buyer’s ability to obtain a mortgage. Barclays , Chelsea Building Society, and Platform Home Loans Ltd 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 is problematic they may refuse to grant the mortgage, forcing the buyer to withdraw.

I purchased a split level flat in Tilbury, conveyancing having been completed 2005. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar flats in Tilbury with over 90 years remaining are worth £199,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £65 charged once a year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2096

With just 70 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £11,400 and £13,200 plus plus your own and the landlord's "reasonable" professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to advice on a more accurate figure without more detailed due diligence. Do not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be considered and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward placing reliance on this information before getting professional advice.