Our solicitors will create a tailor-made lease to suit your requirements, and will negotiate its terms with your landlord or tenant, completing the lease for you when the terms are agreed.

You may find the need to have further legal agreements or licences drawn up during the course of a tenancy, for example if the tenant wishes to alter the property or assign the lease to a third party. We can advise you on the suitability of these documents and the provisions to be included to protect your investment. 

Supplemental lease documents include:

• Licences to assign.
• Licences to sublet.
• Licences to carry out alterations.
• Deeds to vary or rectify leases.
• Rent deposit deeds.
• Guarantee agreements.
• Surrender documents.

In some situations a lease will not be appropriate, and instead you may find a licence to occupy suits your needs. This is an agreement in which you give an occupier a non-exclusive right to occupy your property. However, the law behind these licences is complex and you must ensure that the licence could not be construed as a tenancy ‘in disguise’.

We can advise of the requirements to create a valid licence to occupy, and prepare the licence on your behalf.

Sometimes, a dispute between a Landlord and Tenant is unavoidable. In that situation, you will need swift legal action to ensure your rights are protected. Our Landlord and Tenant Disputes team will be on hand to help you navigate the process and to assist with a solution.

The legal requirements on a residential landlord have become more cumbersome over the years, including energy efficiency measures, the Right to Rent provisions and deposit protection.

We can advise you of your legal obligations and prepare the document pack required to put a residential tenancy in place.

If you have privately owned a leasehold property for more than two-years, you will most likely have a right to extend your lease (subject to qualifying conditions). This may be required when remortgaging or selling a flat. You may also wish to consider extending your lease as an investment in your property for the future.

We have more information in our Lease Extensions leaflet, or speak to one of our landlord and tenant solicitors for more information. Call us now. 

If you live in a leasehold flat and meet the qualifying criteria, it’s possible for you to purchase the freehold of the building from the current freeholder.

This will give you several advantages, including:

• Control over the management of the building, including insurance, maintenance, repair and decoration.
• Control over the management charges.
• Typically, an increase in the value of your property.

Before you proceed with a freehold purchase, you will need to discuss the matter in depth with the leaseholders of the other flats in your building, and get a commitment from those willing to participate – a ‘participation agreement’. We can advise and guide you through every step of the way.