My fiance and I may need to let out our Shillington ground floor flat temporarily due to taking a sabbatical. We used a Shillington conveyancing firm in 2001 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to get any guidance as to whether the lease allows us to sublet. How do we find out?

The lease governs relations between the landlord and you the flat owner; specifically, it will indicate if subletting is banned, or permitted but only subject to certain caveats. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is permitted. Most leases in Shillington do not contain strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the flat. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly sending a copy of the tenancy agreement.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Seventy years remaining on my lease in Shillington. I am keen to extend my lease but my freeholder is missing. What options are available to me?

On the basis that you qualify, under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 you can apply to the County Court for an order to dispense with the service of the initial notice. This will enable the lease to be extended by the Court. However, you will be required to prove that you or your lawyers have made all reasonable attempts to track down the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent may be helpful to try and locate and to produce an expert document to be used as evidence that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a property lawyer both on investigating the landlord’s disappearance and the application to the County Court covering Shillington.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Shillington. Do I have any liability for service charges relating to a period prior to my ownership?

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 work for a long established estate agency in Shillington where we see a number of leasehold sales put at risk as a result of short leases. I have been given contradictory information from local Shillington conveyancing solicitors. Could you clarify whether the owner of a flat can start the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

As long as the seller has been the owner for at least 2 years it is possible, to serve a Section 42 notice to commence the lease extension process and assign the benefit of the notice to the purchaser. This means that the proposed purchaser need not have 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 buyer.

Can you provide any top tips for leasehold conveyancing in Shillington from the perspective of expediting the sale process?

• Much of the frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shillington can be avoided if you instruct lawyers as soon as your agents start advertising the property and ask them to collate the leasehold documentation needed by the purchasers’ solicitors.
• The majority freeholders or Management Companies in Shillington charge for providing management packs for a leasehold premises. You or your lawyers should discover the fee that they propose to charge. The management information sought as soon as you have a buyer, thus accelerating the process. The typical amount of time it takes to obtain the necessary information is three weeks. It is the most common cause of frustration in leasehold conveyancing in Shillington.

Shillington Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

How many of the leaseholders are in arrears for their maintenance charge payments? It would be prudent to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they will impact your use and enjoyment of the property. As the proprietor of a leasehold property you will be in the clutches of the managing agents from a financial perspective and when it comes to practical matters like the cleanliness of the communal areas. You should not be afraid to ask other tenants if they are happy with their management. On a final note, find out the dates that you are obliged pay the maintenance charge to the relevant party and specifically what it includes. Plenty Shillington leasehold flats will be liable to pay a service bill for maintenance of the building levied by the management company. Where you purchase the apartment you will have to meet this contribution, normally periodically during the year. This may vary from two or three hundred pounds to thousands of pounds for buildings with lifts and large communal grounds. There will also be a ground rent for you to pay yearly, normally this is not a large sum, say around £50-£100 but you need to check as sometimes it can be surprisingly expensive.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Shillington