I wish to sublet my leasehold apartment in Westcliff On Sea. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Notwithstanding that your last Westcliff On Sea conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if you are permitted to let out the apartment. The rule is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

There are only Sixty One years left on my lease in Westcliff On Sea. I need to extend my lease but my freeholder is absent. What should I do?

On the basis that you meet the appropriate requirements, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can submit an application to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will mean that your lease can be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the landlord. For most situations an enquiry agent may be helpful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on devolving into the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court overseeing Westcliff On Sea.

Looking forward to complete next month on a ground floor flat in Westcliff On Sea. Conveyancing solicitors inform me that they are sending me a report next week. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

• Does the lease prevent you from subletting the property, or having a home office for business

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

Changes to the flat (alterations and additions)

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 rights to access the flat you be made aware that your landlord has rights of access and I know how much notice s/he must provide.

Whether the landlord has obligations to ensure rights of quiet enjoyment over your premises and do you know what it means in practice?

What the implications are if you breach a clause of your lease? For a comprehensive list of information to be included in your report on your leasehold property in Westcliff On Sea please enquire of your solicitor in ahead of your conveyancing in Westcliff On Sea

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Westcliff On Sea from the perspective of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Westcliff On Sea can be bypassed if you appoint lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to put together the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ representatives.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? Have you, for example installed wooden flooring? Most leases in Westcliff On Sea state that internal structural alterations or addition of wooden flooring require a licence from the Landlord acquiescing to such works. If you dont have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in advance.

Some Westcliff On Sea leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, it would be prudent to place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain bank and professional references. The bank reference will need to confirm that the buyers are 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 buyers or their lawyers.

If there is a history of conflict with your freeholder or managing agents it is very important that these are settled before the property is put on the market. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to discharge 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is better to reveal the dispute as historic as opposed to ongoing.

You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be wise to verify this via your solicitors. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is below 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you consider whether the lease term for your property needs extending. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £375000 apartment in Westcliff On Sea in just under a week. The managing agents has quoted £312 for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a flat conveyance in Westcliff On Sea?

For most leasehold sales in Westcliff On Sea conveyancing will involve, queries regarding the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Completing pre-exchange enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Westcliff On Sea
• 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 conveyancer will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Westcliff On Sea leasehold premises is £350. For Westcliff On Sea 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 answers.

Westcliff On Sea Leasehold Conveyancing - Examples of Queries Prior to buying

You should want to find out as much as possible regarding the company managing the block as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. Being a leasehold owner you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to daily issues such as the cleanliness of the common parts. Ask other tenants if they are happy with them. In conclusion, be sure you know the dates that the maintenance fees are due to the managing agents and precisely what it includes. In the main the cost for major works tend not to be wrapped into the service charges, although a few managing agents in Westcliff On Sea ask tenants to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific purpose of establishing a fund for larger repairs or maintenance. What restrictions exist in the Westcliff On Sea Lease?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Westcliff On Sea