I wish to sublet my leasehold apartment in Truro. Conveyancing solicitor who did the purchase is retired - so can't ask him. Do I need to ask my freeholder for permission?

Even though your previous Truro conveyancing lawyer is not available you can review your lease to check if you are permitted to let out the premises. The rule is that if the deeds are non-specific, subletting is allowed. There may be a precondition that you need to seek permission via your landlord or other appropriate person prior to subletting. This means you not allowed to sublet in the absence of first obtaining permission. Such consent is not allowed to be unreasonably withheld. If the lease prohibits you from subletting the property you will need to ask your landlord if they are willing to waive this restriction.

Having checked my lease I have discovered that there are only Fifty years remaining on my lease in Truro. I now wish to get lease extension but my freeholder is can not be found. What are my options?

If you qualify, 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 mean that your lease can be granted an extra 90 years 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. For most situations an enquiry agent should be helpful to carry out a search and to produce a report which can be accepted by the court as proof that the freeholder can not be located. It is advisable to get professional help from a conveyancer both on proving the landlord’s disappearance and the vesting order request to the County Court covering Truro.

I've recently bought a leasehold property in Truro. Am I liable to pay 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. However, 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).

Do you have any advice for leasehold conveyancing in Truro from the point of view of expediting the sale process?

• A significant proportion of the delay in leasehold conveyancing in Truro can be reduced where you get in touch lawyers as soon as you market your property and request that they start to collate the leasehold information needed by the buyers representatives.
• Many freeholders or managing agents in Truro 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 can be applied for 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 usual reason for delay in leasehold conveyancing in Truro.
• If you have had any disputes with your landlord or managing agents it is essential that these are settled prior to the flat being marketed. The purchasers and their solicitors will be nervous about purchasing a property where there is a current dispute. You will have to accept that you will have to pay 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 particulars of the dispute to the buyers, but it is clearly preferable to present the dispute as over as opposed to ongoing.
• If you are supposed to have a share in the freehold, you should make sure that you have the original share document. Organising a duplicate share certificate is often a lengthy process and slows down many a Truro home move. If a reissued share certificate is required, you should approach the company director and secretary or managing agents (if applicable) for this as soon as possible.
• You believe that you know the number of years remaining on your lease but it would be advisable verify this by asking your lawyers. A purchaser's conveyancer will be unlikely to recommend their client to where the lease term is less than 75 years. It is therefore essential at an as soon as possible that you consider whether the lease requires a lease extension. If it does, contact your solicitors before you put your property on the market for sale.

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 375000 maisonette in Truro next Monday . The management company has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Landlord’s certificate, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge an administration fee for a leasehold conveyance in Truro?

Truro conveyancing on leasehold flats usually necessitates administration charges levied by management companies :

• Answering pre-contract enquiries
• Where consent is required before sale in Truro
• Copies of the building insurance and schedule
• Deeds of covenant upon sale
• Registering of the assignment of the change of lessee after a sale

Your solicitor will have no control over the level of the charges for this information but the average costs for the information for Truro leasehold premises is £350. For Truro conveyancing transactions it is customary for the seller to pay for these costs. The landlord or their agents are under no legal obligation to answer such questions most will be willing to do so - albeit often at exorbitant prices where the fees bear little relation to the work involved. Unfortunately there is no law that requires fixed charges for administrative tasks. Neither is there any legal time frame by which they are required to provide the information.

I acquired a basement flat in Truro, conveyancing was carried out half a dozen years ago. Can you work out an approximate cost of a lease extension? Similar flats in Truro with a long lease are worth £214,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £45 yearly. The lease ceases on 21st October 2106

With 80 years left to run the likely cost is going to span between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as legals.

The figure that we have given is a general guide to costs for renewing a lease, but we are not able to provide a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. You should not use the figures in a Notice of Claim or as an informal offer. There may be additional issues that need to be taken into account and clearly you want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. You should not take any other action based on this information before seeking the advice of a professional.