My partner and I may need to rent out our Wareham garden flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We instructed a Wareham conveyancing practice in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your last Wareham conveyancing solicitor is no longer around you can check your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the property. The accepted inference is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you must seek permission via your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet without prior consent. The consent should not be unreasonably withheld. If the lease does not allow you to sublet you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Looking forward to sign contracts shortly on a basement flat in Wareham. Conveyancing lawyers assured me that they report fully next week. What should I be looking out for?

Your report on title for your leasehold conveyancing in Wareham should include some of the following:

• Does the lease require carpeting throughout thus preventing wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from renting out the flat, or working from home

An explanation as to the provision in the lease to pay service charges - with regard to both the building, and the more general rights a leaseholder has

Repair and maintenance of the flat

I don't know whether the lease allows me to alter or improve anything in the flat - you should know whether it applies to all alterations or just structural alteration, and whether consent is required

The landlord’s obligations to repair and maintain the building. It is important that you know who is responsible for the repair and maintenance of every part of the building

What options are open to you if a neighbour is in violation of a provision in their lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Wareham please ask your conveyancer in ahead of your conveyancing in Wareham

I am employed by a reputable estate agency in Wareham where we have experienced a few flat sales jeopardised due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have received inconsistent advice from local Wareham conveyancing firms. Can you shed some light as to whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

As long as 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 buyer need not have to wait 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is 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.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Wareham with the intention of saving time on the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Wareham can be bypassed where you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start marketing the property and ask them to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers conveyancers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Wareham levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management pack can be applied for on or before finding a buyer, thus reducing delays. 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 Wareham.

If you have carried out any alterations to the premises would they have required Landlord’s consent? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Wareham state that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you fail to have the paperwork to hand do not communicate with the landlord without checking with your conveyancer before hand.

If you have had conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is essential that these are resolved before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be concerned about purchasing a property where there is an ongoing dispute. You may have to bite the bullet and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to completion of the sale. 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 buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unsettled.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to double-check by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's lawyer will be unlikely to recommend their client to to exchange contracts if the lease term is less than 75 years. In the circumstances it is important at an early stage that you identify whether the lease for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £450000 maisonette in Wareham in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £348 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Wareham?

Wareham conveyancing on leasehold apartments normally results in administration charges raised by management companies :

• Addressing pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Wareham
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Wareham leasehold premises is £350. For Wareham 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.

I bought a studio flat in Wareham, conveyancing having been completed 10 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 Wareham with an extended lease are worth £265,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £55 invoiced annually. The lease ends on 21st October 2092

With only 67 years remaining on your lease the likely cost is going to range between £15,200 and £17,600 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more detailed investigations. You should not use this information in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There are no doubt other concerns that need to be considered and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information without first getting professional advice.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Wareham