My wife and I may need to sub-let our Walkden 1st floor flat for a while due to a career opportunity. We instructed a Walkden conveyancing firm in 2002 but they have closed and we did not have the foresight to seek any advice as to whether the lease prohibits the subletting of the flat. How do we find out?

Your lease dictates the relationship between the landlord and you the flat owner; in particular, it will indicate if subletting is prohibited, or permitted but only subject to certain conditions. The rule is that if the lease contains no expres ban or restriction, subletting is allowed. The majority of leases in Walkden do not prevent strict prohibition on subletting – such a clause would undoubtedly devalue the property. Instead, there is usually simply a requirement that the owner notifies the freeholder, possibly supplying a duplicate of the sublease.

Last month I purchased a leasehold house in Walkden. Am I liable to pay service charges relating to a period prior to completion of my purchase?

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 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 agency in Walkden where we see a few flat sales derailed as a result of short leases. I have been given conflicting advice from local Walkden conveyancing firms. Could you shed some light as to whether the owner of a flat can initiate the lease extension process for the purchaser on completion of the sale?

Provided that 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 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.

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.

Can you offer any advice when it comes to choosing a Walkden conveyancing practice to carry out our lease extension conveyancing?

If you are instructing a conveyancer for lease extension works (regardless if they are a Walkden conveyancing firm) it is most important that they be familiar with the legislation and specialises in this area of work. We recommend that you make enquires with several firms including non Walkden conveyancing practices prior to instructing a firm. If the firm is ALEP accredited then so much the better. Some following of questions could be useful:

• If the firm is not ALEP accredited then why not?
• What volume of lease extensions has the firm conducted in Walkden in the last twenty four months?

Our conveyancer has advised that he intends to complete and exchange simultaneously on our sale of a £ 500000 flat in Walkden on Tuesday in a week. The managing agents has quoted £<Macro 'feeRangeWithVAT'> for Certificate of Compliance, insurance certificate and 3 years service charge statements. Is it legal for a freeholder to charge such fees for a flat conveyance in Walkden?

Walkden conveyancing on leasehold flats normally results in fees being raised by managing agents :

• Answering pre-contract questions
• Where consent is required before sale in Walkden
• 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 Walkden leasehold premises is £350. For Walkden 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 obliged to provide answers.

I acquired a garden flat in Walkden, conveyancing formalities finalised in 2004. How much will my lease extension cost? Equivalent flats in Walkden with an extended lease are worth £215,000. The average or mid-range amount of ground rent is £50 yearly. The lease runs out on 21st October 2105

You have 79 years remaining on your lease we estimate the premium for your lease extension to be between £10,500 and £12,000 as well as professional fees.

The suggested premium range that we have given is a general guide to costs for extending a lease, but we are not able to supply a more accurate figure without more comprehensive due diligence. Do not use the figures in tribunal or court proceedings. There are no doubt additional concerns that need to be taken into account and you obviously want to be as accurate as possible in your negotiations. Please do not take any other action based on this information before getting professional advice.