I wish to rent out my leasehold flat in Belper. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask her. Is permission from the freeholder required?

Even though your previous Belper conveyancing lawyer is not around you can check your lease to check if it allows you to sublet the premises. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek consent via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet without prior consent. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably turned down. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you should ask your landlord for their consent.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only 62 years remaining on my flat in Belper. I need to get lease extension but my freeholder is missing. What are my options?

If 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 enable the lease to be granted an extra 90 years by the magistrate. You will be obliged to prove that you or your lawyers have done all that could be expected to find the lessor. In some cases a specialist should be useful to carry out a search and prepare an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Belper.

Estate agents have just been given the go-ahead to market my garden flat in Belper.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just received a half-yearly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

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 until 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've recently bought a leasehold house in Belper. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

In a situation where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous lessee and they have not paid you would not usually be personally liable for the arrears. Strange as it may seem, your landlord may still be able to take action to forfeit the lease. It is an essential part of leasehold conveyancing for your conveyancer to be sure to have an up to date clear service charge receipt before completion of your purchase. If you have a mortgage this is likely to be a requirement of your lender.

If you purchase part way through an accounting year you may be liable for charges not yet demanded even if they relate to a period prior to your purchase. In such circumstances your conveyancer would normally arrange for the seller to set aside some money to cover their part of the period (usually called a service charge retention).

I am a negotiator for a long established estate agent office in Belper where we see a few leasehold sales put at risk due to short leases. I have been given inconsistent advice from local Belper conveyancing firms. Can you clarify whether the vendor of a flat can start the lease extension formalities 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 sit tight for 2 years to extend their lease. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment needs to be completed before, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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.

Belper Leasehold Conveyancing - Sample of Questions you should consider Prior to buying

Best to be warned whether redecorating or some other major work is due shortly that will be shared amongst the leasehold owners and will dramatically increase the the service charges or result in a specific payment. What is the name of the managing agents? Does the lease have onerous restrictions?

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Belper