My partner and I may need to rent out our Epping 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Epping conveyancing practice in 2001 but they have since shut and we did not think at the time get any guidance as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Even though your last Epping conveyancing solicitor is not available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The accepted inference is that if the deeds are silent, subletting is permitted. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you need to obtain consent via your landlord or some other party in advance of subletting. The net result is that you cannot sublet in the absence of first obtaining consent. The consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If your lease prohibits you from letting out the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I have just started marketing my 2 bed flat in Epping.Conveyancing is yet to be initiated but I have just had a quarterly service charge demand – Do I pay up?

The sensible thing to do is discharge 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 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. This will smooth the conveyancing process.

I own a leasehold house in Epping. Conveyancing and Barclays mortgage are in place. A letter has just been received from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a demand for arrears of ground rent dating back to 1998. The conveyancing practitioner in Epping who previously acted has now retired.Do I pay?

The first thing you should do is contact HMLR to make sure that the individual purporting to own the freehold is indeed the new freeholder. It is not necessary to instruct a Epping conveyancing practitioner to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. Rest assured that in any event, even if this is the rightful freeholder, under the Limitation Act 1980 no more than 6 years of rent can be collected.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Epping. Am I liable to pay service charges for periods before my ownership?

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. A critical element 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Epping with the aim of speeding up the sale process?

• Much of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Epping can be avoided if you get in touch lawyers the minute your agents start advertising the property and request that they start to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ lawyers.
• The majority landlords or managing agents in Epping levy fees for supplying management packs for a leasehold homes. You or your lawyers should find out the actual amount of the charges. The management information can be applied for as soon as you have a buyer, thus reducing delays. The average time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Epping.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is very important that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be warry about purchasing a flat where a dispute is ongoing. You may need to swallow your pride and discharge any arrears of service charge or settle the dispute prior to the buyers completing the purchase. 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 purchasers, but it is clearly preferable to reveal the dispute as historic rather than unresolved.
• If you have the benefit of shareholding in the Management Company, you should ensure that you have the original share document. Obtaining a re-issued share certificate is often a time consuming process and slows down many a Epping conveyancing transaction. Where a new share is needed, you should approach the company officers or managing agents (if relevant) for this sooner rather than later.
• You believe that you know the number of years left on your lease but you should verify this via your conveyancers. A purchaser's conveyancer will not be happy to advise their client to proceed with the purchase of a leasehold property the lease term is under 75 years. It is therefore essential at an early stage that you identify whether the lease term requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your home on the market for sale.

Epping Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Questions you should ask before buying

For most Epping leaseholds the outlay for major works are not included within service charges, albeit that some managing agents in Epping ask leaseholders to contribute towards a sinking fund created for the specific intention of establishing a fund for major repairs or maintenance. Please note that where the lease has fewer than eighty years it will have adverse implications on the marketability of the flat. Check with your bank that they are happy with remaining years on the lease. A short lease means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and you need to have some idea of how much this will be. For most Eppinglease extensions you will need to own the premises for 24 months before you are entitled to exercise a lease extension.