Jane (my partner) and I may need to rent out our Whitland 1st floor flat temporarily due to a new job. We used a Whitland conveyancing firm in 2001 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?

Some leases for properties in Whitland 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 only have Seventy years unexpired on my lease in Whitland. I now wish to get lease extension but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for for permission to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be lengthened by the Court. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to locate the freeholder. In some cases a specialist would be useful to carry out a search and to produce an expert document which can be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Whitland.

I am tempted by the attractive purchase price for a couple of maisonettes in Whitland which have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the lease term. Will this present a problem?

There are plenty of short leases in Whitland. The lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the marketability of the lease decreases and results in it becoming more costly to acquire a lease extension. This is why it is generally wise to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease as mortgage lenders less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease enfranchisement can be a difficult process. We recommend you seek professional assistance from a conveyancer and surveyor with experience in this area

I am a negotiator for a busy estate agency in Whitland where we have witnessed a few leasehold sales put at risk due to leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given conflicting advice from local Whitland conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that the seller has owned the lease 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. The benefit of this is that the buyer can avoid having to wait 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done before, or at the same time as completion of the disposal of the property.

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 advice for leasehold conveyancing in Whitland from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Whitland can be avoided where you instruct lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or Management Companies in Whitland levy fees for providing management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought 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 usual reason for frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Whitland.
• In the event that you altered the property did you need the Landlord’s permission? In particular have you laid down wooden flooring? Whitland leases often stipulate that internal structural changes or laying down wooden flooring calls for a licence issued by the Landlord approving such changes. Where you fail to have the consents to hand you should not communicate with the landlord without contacting your lawyer in the first instance.
• If there is a history of any disputes with your landlord 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 reluctant to purchase a property 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 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 details of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as historic rather than ongoing.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate can be a time consuming process and delays many a Whitland home move. Where a reissued share is needed, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (where applicable) for this sooner rather than later.

Whitland Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should ask before buying

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their service charge payments?