Having had my offer accepted I require leasehold conveyancing in Wolston. Before I get started I require certainty as to the unexpired term of the lease.

Assuming the lease is recorded at the land registry - and most are in Wolston - then the leasehold title will always include the short particulars of the lease, namely the date; the term; and the original parties. From a conveyancing perspective such details then enable any prospective buyer and lender to confirm that any lease they are looking at is the one relevant to that title.For any other purpose, such as confirming how long the term was granted for and calculating what is left, then the register should be sufficient on it's own.

Frank (my husband) and I may need to sub-let our Wolston garden flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Wolston conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Notwithstanding that your previous Wolston conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to see if it allows you to sublet the apartment. The accepted inference is that if the lease is non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek consent via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is you not allowed to sublet in the absence of prior consent. Such consent should not be unreasonably turned down. If your lease does not allow you to sublet you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden apartment in Wolston.Conveyancing has not commenced but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – what should I do?

The sensible thing to do is pay the service charge as normal because all ground rent and service charges will be apportioned on completion, so you will be reimbursed by the buyer for the period running from after the completion date to the next payment date. Most management companies will not acknowledge the buyer unless the service charges have been paid and are up to date so it is important for both buyer and seller for the seller to show that they are up to date. Having a clear account will assist your cause and will leave you no worse off financially.

I am employed by a long established estate agent office in Wolston where we have experienced a few flat sales derailed due to short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Wolston conveyancing solicitors. Please can you confirm whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension formalities for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has owned the lease for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to kick-start the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser can avoid having to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or simultaneously with completion of the disposal of the property.

An alternative approach is to agree the lease extension with the freeholder 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 offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Wolston conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for your lease extension (regardless if they are a Wolston conveyancing practice) it is imperative that he or she should be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We advise that you speak with two or three firms including non Wolston conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions might be of use:

• How familiar is the practice with lease extension legislation?

Wolston Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should consider before Purchasing

Who manages the building? How much is the yearly maintenance fee and ground rent? It would be prudent to discover as much as possible about the managing agents as they will either make your living at the property much simpler or a lot more difficult. Being a leasehold owner you are frequently at the mercy of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical issues such as the tidiness of the common parts. Ask other tenants whether they are happy with them. Finally, be sure you discover the dates that the service charges are due to the appropriate party and specifically what you get for your money.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Wolston