Validity Agreement of Lease

[Lindum]

Could you provide me with some expert advice.

I purchased a flat (complex of 10)that I live in with mywife in August 2008 on an 999 year leaseand have not been happy with outstanding maintenance issues, although some havebeen completed lately, our concern is the validity of our Agreement of Lease.

Contract of Agreementstates when the last lease is soldthen maintenance issues/cleaning will be the responsibility of the MaintenanceCompany , service charges would be set each owner (tenant) having one share andbeing a member of.

Currently I am aware that six properties have sold (four toa Finance Company) all have been let (sublet) the remaining properties have been taken offthe market and are now let by the builders, our flat remains the one propertylived in by the owner.

Could someone on the panel clarify the Tenants condition:

Not to assign, sublet, mortgage or change part of thePremises separately from the rest of it provided that this shall not provideany subletting by the way of Assured Shorthold Tenancy for a term not exceedingtwenty four months.

We did purchase the flat expecting some of the others to be privatelylived in by the owners, this has not been the case, our position is that wehave now put the property on the market for sale although I realise that wewill need legal advice at some point regarding the Agreement of Lease..

I hope this is not to long winded…

Thanks Ray

[Melboy]

Ray,

This is common problem.

In my part of the World they have built large numbers of very nice apartments/flats etc. in good locations and to a good standard.

During the boom times these flats were snapped up by 1st time private buyers thinking that they would have a nice peaceful life with nice similar neighbours.......how wrong can you be.

Eventually the investors moved in (as in your case) and of course the less desirable tenant (shall we say) moved in with a completely different outlook on how they should behave. Wannabe Buy-To-Letter's were only interested in anyone who could pay the mortgage. How that was to all collapse after the 2007 eh!

I know of 3 people personally who could stand it no longer and sold up at a loss just to get out of the environment they found themselves in. One person couldn't even face the prospect of going back home at night after work so was advised to let the flat out to pay the mortgage and move.....and they did just that for a peaceful life and to quote what they told me..."If you can't beat them....join them"!

Mel.

[Richlist]

I'm not entirely sure what your question is so, I'll assume its concerning the part of the lease that reads:

Not to assign, sublet, mortgage or change part of thePremises separately from the rest of it provided that this shall not provideany subletting by the way of Assured Shorthold Tenancy for a term not exceedingtwenty four months.

My understanding of that is.....

* you cannot assign, sublet, mortgage or change only a part of the premises ie the action has to affect the whole of your property.

* you can sublet on an AST provided the term of the AST is for less than 24 months.

[Lindum]

Hi Mel

Thanks for your reply.

We have no problems with the other tenants, rarely see them but that could all change in the future, we feel the apartment has served it purpose and its time to move on.

Its the terms of the Agreement of Lease that I feel the Landlord (builder) has broken with six apartment being sold either to an Rental or Investment Company and the other two being withdrawn off the market for them to rent.

The Agreement states that when all ten are sold the tenants will form Management Company to maintain them... this will never happen at the moment.

There is also the condition in the Agreement about subletting which I needed clarify as I mentioned previously with an Investment Company buying four.

At some point we will have to get legal advice, I am just making advance enquiries.

Ray

Ray,

This is common problem.

In my part of the World they have built large numbers of very nice apartments/flats etc. in good locations and to a good standard.

During the boom times these flats were snapped up by 1st time private buyers thinking that they would have a nice peaceful life with nice similar neighbours.......how wrong can you be.

Eventually the investors moved in (as in your case) and of course the less desirable tenant (shall we say) moved in with a completely different outlook on how they should behave. Wannabe Buy-To-Letter's were only interested in anyone who could pay the mortgage. How that was to all collapse after the 2007 eh!

I know of 3 people personally who could stand it no longer and sold up at a loss just to get out of the environment they found themselves in. One person couldn't even face the prospect of going back home at night after work so was advised to let the flat out to pay the mortgage and move.....and they did just that for a peaceful life and to quote what they told me..."If you can't beat them....join them"!

Mel.

[Lindum]

Hi

Thanks for your reply, sorry to be a bit vague was trying to cut the text down.

What I was trying to say is can the landlord sell the leases to these apartments (qty 6) to two companies under the condition below and then let them out.

From your response it can only be upto 24 months, I presume the companies would sell them off after that period which should be interesting.

This does not relate to my apartment but to the others in the complex.

Thanks Ray

quote name='Richlist' timestamp='1306416522' post='15451']

I'm not entirely sure what your question is so, I'll assume its concerning the part of the lease that reads:

Not to assign, sublet, mortgage or change part of thePremises separately from the rest of it provided that this shall not provideany subletting by the way of Assured Shorthold Tenancy for a term not exceedingtwenty four months.

My understanding of that is.....

* you cannot assign, sublet, mortgage or change only a part of the premises ie the action has to affect the whole of your property.

* you can sublet on an AST provided the term of the AST is for less than 24 months.

[Richlist]

My post may not have been clear.........The developer can sell the properties to whoever will pay the agreed price. The purchaser can then let them out as per the terms of the lease. The letting term would be for up 24 months max to a tenant(s) but the property may then be relet to another tenant and another tenant etc for as long as the owner wanted provided each tenancy agreement (AST) was for 24 months max.

The fact that they have been sold to 'companies' should make no difference to the setting up of responsibilities for service charge/ maintenance/ administration work.

[Lindum]

Thank you for the information which does clarify matters to me now..

Ray

My post may not have been clear.........The developer can sell the properties to whoever will pay the agreed price. The purchaser can then let them out as per the terms of the lease. The letting term would be for up 24 months max to a tenant(s) but the property may then be relet to another tenant and another tenant etc for as long as the owner wanted provided each tenancy agreement (AST) was for 24 months max.

The fact that they have been sold to 'companies' should make no difference to the setting up of responsibilities for service charge/ maintenance/ administration work.