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Advise regarding leasehold attic

Baldesare
Baldesare Posts: 7 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
I need advice regarding an email i have received today from my freeholder.

I live in a 1 bed maisonette, the property is leasehold and my freeholder has been trying to get my partner and i to purchase the attic for a few years, we did consider as we tried to get planning permission to convert the attic into another room but we were turned down due to changing the skyline of our road. .. foolishly we didn't appeal.

I have just received the following from my freeholder ....

Please let me know ASAP whether you are still interested in purchasing the attic space.

We have the option of selling the whole attic to your neighbour to create one large space for them to extend into.

We will not agree anything until we hear from you but need to know by the end of next week.


Now our water tank for starters is up in the loft but also is this even allowed? we are 4 purpose built maisonettes, basically i just wanted to find out if this was possible and if it sounds more like blackmail to get us to purchase the loft (he's charging £7000)

thanks for any advice in advance.
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Comments

  • Baldesare
    Baldesare Posts: 7 Forumite
    I should add we have a mortgage with this property
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    Baldesare wrote: »
    Now our water tank for starters is up in the loft
    Really...?

    Are you sure about that?

    I'd be VERY surprised if you had a water tank at all.
  • Baldesare
    Baldesare Posts: 7 Forumite
    yes we have a water tank upstair in the loft, its a 1930 property, our overflow is leaking at this moment in time.
    I have been living here for 10 years and can assure you there is a water tank.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    I am indeed very surprised.

    This might be a good opportunity to bring your plumbing into the second half of the 20th century...
  • sparky130a
    sparky130a Posts: 660 Forumite
    Baldesare wrote: »
    yes we have a water tank upstair in the loft, its a 1930 property, our overflow is leaking at this moment in time.
    I have been living here for 10 years and can assure you there is a water tank.

    So what has the freeholder said about fixing that?
  • G_M
    G_M Posts: 51,977 Forumite
    Name Dropper First Anniversary First Post Combo Breaker
    edited 17 March 2017 at 8:11PM
    AdrianC wrote: »
    I am indeed very surprised.

    This might be a good opportunity to bring your plumbing into the second half of the 20th century...
    ????????????

    what's so dated about a water tank?



    OP - you need to get your lease out and see what it says. There may well be things in it which make it impossible for the atic to be sold by/converted by the freeholder (or neighbour).

    * if your water tank is up there, there must be some right for you to have it upthere. In which case your consent would be needed to alter your lease to allow the water tank to be removed

    * your lease may describe your property as 'top floor maisonette'. Again, putting a new flat above you would require your lease to be altered, requiring your consent.

    These are just possible examples. Read the leae carefully.

    And then there's planning permission. Your application was tirned down. What guarantee does the freeholder, or neighbour, have of getting PP granted? Especially if you raise objections at the planning stage?

    The above of course all assumes you don't want the attic. If you DO want it, the the next step is price negotiation, while pointing out all the problems the feeholder will have getting the neighbour's plans through........
  • IAmWales
    IAmWales Posts: 2,024 Forumite
    I don't know the answer but would be interested to find out.

    Contact the Leasehold Advisory Service and let us know what they say. I can't link to their site but Google will take you there.
  • AdrianC
    AdrianC Posts: 42,189 Forumite
    First Anniversary Name Dropper First Post
    G_M wrote: »
    ????????????

    what's so dated about a water tank?
    I dunno about you, but I'm not a big fan of brushing my teeth in dead pigeon stock.
  • sparky130a
    sparky130a Posts: 660 Forumite
    AdrianC wrote: »
    I dunno about you, but I'm not a big fan of brushing my teeth in dead pigeon stock.

    I'd imagine it's better than golden eagle stock though....
  • Baldesare
    Baldesare Posts: 7 Forumite
    he hasn't replied to me yet about that, we also had the loft insulated and paid for this ourself....
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