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

Even though your last Toddington conveyancing lawyer is no longer available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the lease is silent, subletting is allowed. Quite often there is a prerequisite that you are obliged to seek permission from your landlord or some other party prior to subletting. This means that you cannot sublet in the absence of prior permission. The consent must not not be unreasonably refused ore delayed. If the lease prohibits you from letting out the property you should ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

I own a leasehold house in Toddington. Conveyancing and Coventry Building Society mortgage organised. I have received a letter from someone saying they have taken over the freehold. Attached was a ground rent demand for rent dating back to 1997. The conveyancing solicitor in Toddington who acted for me is not around.What should I do?

The first thing you should do is contact the Land Registry to make sure that this person is in fact the new freeholder. There is no need to incur the fees of a Toddington conveyancing solicitor to do this as you can do this on the Land Registry website for less than a fiver. You should note that regardless, even if this is the legitimate landlord, under the Limitation Act 1980 the limitation period for recovery of ground rent is six years.

I am looking at a two maisonettes in Toddington which have in the region of forty five years unexpired on the leases. Do I need to be concerned?

There is no doubt about it. A leasehold apartment in Toddington is a wasting asset as a result of the shortening lease. The nearer the lease gets to its expiry date, the more it adversely affects the salability of the premises. For most purchasers and banks, leases with less than eighty years become less and less attractive. On a more upbeat note, leaseholders can extend their leases by serving a Section 42 Notice. One stipulation is that they must have owned the property for two years (unlike a Section 13 notice for purchasing the freehold, when leaseholders can participate from day one of ownership). When successful, they will have the right to an extension of 90 years to the current term and ground rent is effectively reduced to zero. Before moving forward with a purchase of premises with a short lease term remaining you should talk to a solicitor specialising in lease extensions and leasehold enfranchisement. We are are happy to put you in touch with Toddington conveyancing experts who will explain the options available to you during an initial telephone conversation free of charge. A more straightforward and quicker method of extending would be to contact your landlord directly and sound him out on the prospect of extending the lease They may agree to a smaller lump sum and an increase in the ground rent, but to shorter extension terms in return. You need to ensure that the agreed terms represent good long-term value compared with the standard benefits of the Section 42 Notice and that onerous clauses are not inserted into any redrafting of the lease.

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

Where the service charge has already been demanded from the previous owner 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 ensure 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 Toddington where we have experienced a few leasehold sales put at risk as a result of leases having less than 80 years remaining. I have been given contradictory information from local Toddington conveyancing solicitors. Please can you clarify whether the owner of a flat can commence the lease extension formalities for the buyer?

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. The benefit of this is that the proposed purchaser need not have to sit tight for 2 years for a lease extension. Both sets of lawyers will agree to form of assignment. The assignment has to be done prior to, or at the same time as completion of the sale.

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 purchaser.

Toddington Leasehold Conveyancing - A selection of Queries Prior to buying

It would be wise to discover as much as possible concerning the company managing the building as they can either make your life much easier or problematic. As the owner of a leasehold property you are often at the mercy of the managing agents both financially and when it comes to day to day matters such as the cleanliness of the common parts. You should not be shy to ask other tenants what they think of their management. On a final note, be sure you discover the dates that you are obliged pay the service charge to the relevant party and specifically how they are spending the funds. Please note if it is less than 80 years it will impact the marketability of the apartment. Check with your lender that they are willing to to proceed given the lease term. Leases with fewer than 80 years remaining means that you will probably have to extend the lease at some point and it is worth discovering how much this will be. For most Toddingtonlease extensions you will be required to have owned the property for a couple of years in order to be legally able to exercise a lease extension. Generally speaking the outlay for major works tend not to be built into the service charges, albeit that there some managing agents in Toddington ask leaseholders to contribute towards a sinking fund and this is used to offset against larger repairs or maintenance.

Other Topics

Lease Extensions in Toddington