My wife and I may need to sub-let our Winkleigh garden flat for a while due to a new job. We used a Winkleigh conveyancing firm in 2004 but they have since shut 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 Winkleigh do contain a provision to say that subletting is only allowed with permission. The landlord cannot unreasonably refuse but, in such cases, they would need to see references. Experience dictates 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.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Sixty One years remaining on my flat in Winkleigh. I now wish to extend my lease but my landlord is missing. What are my options?

If you meet the appropriate requirements, 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 granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to demonstrate that you or your lawyers have used your best endeavours to find the lessor. On the whole an enquiry agent may be useful to try and locate and to produce an expert document which can be accepted by the court as proof that the landlord is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the landlord’s absence and the vesting order request to the County Court overseeing Winkleigh.

Due to sign contracts shortly on a studio apartment in Winkleigh. Conveyancing solicitors have said that they are sending me a report next week. What should I be looking out for?

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

• How long the lease is You should be advised as what happens when the lease expires, and aware of the importance of not letting the lease term falling below eighty years

Do you need to have carpet in the flat or are you allowed wood flooring?

Does the lease prevent you from letting out the property, or having a home office for business

Whether your lease has a provision for a sinking fund?

Repair and maintenance of the flat

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

Responsibility for repairing the window frames For details of the information to be contained in your report on your leasehold property in Winkleigh please enquire of your conveyancer in advance of your conveyancing in Winkleigh

Can you provide any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Winkleigh from the point of view of saving time on the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Winkleigh can be reduced where you appoint lawyers as soon as you market your property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation which will be required by the buyers lawyers.
• The majority freeholders or managing agents in Winkleigh charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to receive management information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Winkleigh.

Some Winkleigh leases require Licence to Assign from the landlord. If this is the case, you should place the estate agents on notice to make sure that the purchasers obtain financial (bank) and professional references. Any bank reference should make it clear that the buyer is 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 actual amount of the service charge so that they can pass this information on to the purchasers or their lawyers.

If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be reluctant to purchase a property where a dispute is ongoing. 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 ahead of the contract papers being issued to the buyers’ solicitors. You will still have to reveal particulars of the dispute to the purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as over rather than unresolved.

If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you hold the original share certificate. Arranging a re-issued share certificate can be a lengthy process and slows down many a Winkleigh conveyancing transaction. Where a reissued share certificate is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (where relevant) for this at the earliest opportunity.

All being well we will complete the disposal of our £250000 apartment in Winkleigh next week. The management company has quoted £384 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a leasehold conveyance in Winkleigh?

For the majority of leasehold sales in Winkleigh conveyancing will involve, questions about the management of a building inevitably needing to be answered directly by the freeholder or its agent, this includes :

• Answering pre-exchange questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Winkleigh
• 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 Winkleigh leasehold premises is £350. For Winkleigh 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 supply answers.

I invested in buying a leasehold flat in Winkleigh, conveyancing having been completed in 2012. 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? Corresponding flats in Winkleigh with a long lease are worth £231,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease finishes on 21st October 2104

With only 79 years unexpired we estimate the price of your lease extension to span between £8,600 and £9,800 as well as legals.

The figure above a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more detailed investigations. Do not use this information in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt other issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not move forward based on this information before getting professional advice.

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Lease Extensions in Winkleigh