PERMISSION TO SELL LEASEHOLD FLAT

wiseoldbird77

Does anyone know much about this? I am selling my flat but have only just realised I perhaps should have asked permission to do so! I suppose it depends partly on just what it says in the lease. Could you be penalised in some way if you haven't?

Flugelhorn

It is more that who manages the block / freeholder has to know that someone else is going to be owning it and agrees to sign up to the terms of the lease and agrees to pay them etc etc - the conveyancing solicitor will do all this 

eddddy

You won't need permission to put your flat up for sale.


But occasionally, a lease requires that you get 'consent to assign' or 'licence to assign' - which you could say is the same as 'permission to sell'.

It would happen during the conveyancing process - the solicitors will deal with it.

The buyer's solicitor will make sure that consent has been granted, before exchanging contracts.

'Consent to assign' is sometimes required for high-end flats with high service charges. The freeholder might want to check that the buyer is capable of paying the high service charge.


You can check your lease to see if consent/licence is required. If it is, your freeholder will almost certainly charge a fee for dealing with the application - so that would be an extra cost of selling.


But it's more normal for leases to only require that the buyer serves a 'Notice of Assignment' on the freeholder, after the sale has happened - to tell the freeholder who the new leaseholder is.

Gentoo365

It's a fairly simple process the solicitor sorts out and you don't have to ask permission as such (they can't really refuse). 

You don't have to tell them at the start of the process and both the buyer and sellers solicitors will ensure the legal work is done.

theartfullodger

What does your lease say about the matter ?  I can't read it from here 

You have read it?