Jane (my partner) and I may need to let out our Workington ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Workington conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease permits subletting. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the freeholder and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The accepted inference is that if the lease contains no specific ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. Most leases in Workington do not contain subletting altogether – such a clause would adversely affect the market value the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the sublease.

Planning to complete next month on a leasehold property in Workington. Conveyancing lawyers inform me that they are sending me a report tomorrow. Are there areas in the report that I should be focusing on?

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

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

I have just appointed agents to market my ground floor apartment in Workington.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly maintenance charge invoice – Do I pay up?

It best that you clear 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 managing agents 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I am looking at a couple of flats in Workington which have approximately 50 years left on the leases. Should I regard a short lease as a deal breaker?

A lease is a legal document that entitles you to use the premises for a prescribed time frame. As a lease gets shorter the saleability of the lease reduces and it becomes more expensive to acquire a lease extension. For this reason it is advisable to increase the term of the lease. More often than not it is difficult to sell a property with a short lease because mortgage companies less inclined to grant a loan on such properties. Lease extension can be a difficult process. We recommend you get professional help from a solicitor and surveyor with experience in this arena

All being well we will complete the sale of our £200000 flat in Workington next week. The freeholder has quoted £408 for Certificate of Compliance, building insurance schedule and previous years statements of service charge. Is the landlord entitled to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Workington?

Workington conveyancing on leasehold apartments often involves the buyer’s solicitor submitting questions for the landlord to address. Although the landlord is not legally bound to address these enquiries most will be content to do so. They may invoice a reasonable charge for answering enquiries or supplying documentation. There is no upper cap for such fees. The average costs for the paperwork that you are referring to is over three hundred pounds, in some cases it exceeds £800. The administration charge required by the landlord must be accompanied by a summary of rights and obligations in relation to administration charges, otherwise the charge is not strictly payable. Reality however dictates that one has little choice but to pay whatever is demanded should you wish to complete the sale of your home.

I invested in buying a 2 bed flat in Workington, conveyancing having been completed 2004. Can you please calculate a probable premium for a statutory lease extension? Similar properties in Workington with an extended lease are worth £237,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 invoiced every year. The lease ceases on 21st October 2075

With 50 years left to run we estimate the premium for your lease extension to range between £34,200 and £39,600 plus legals.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we cannot give you the actual costs without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There may be other concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously should be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Neither should you move forward based on this information without first seeking the advice of a professional.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Workington