Carport is leased - is this usual?

bulldoze

We are In the process of buying our first off plan house. and currently near the exchanging contracts stage.

The car port for our house is not attached but underneath a flat, we have now been told that the carport is leased to us and not freehold, does this mean they can take it from us at some stage? parking is a big problem in the area we are buying, and we were under the impression (from the builder) that this carport was ours and ours alone. Our solicitor is currently in discussion with the builders solicitor over this.

Is this usual? if anybody has advice on this we would be extremely grateful!

tigermatt

Check the contracts for the carport lease to find out whether it can be taken from you at any time.

Is the carport going to be for other people to park in as well, or is it just for yourselves?

bulldoze

Just for ourselves is what the builder told us. There are 3 car ports underneath the flat and 2 houses (1 of which is ours). so that should be one car port each. we are worried about being burned here, if the car port is taken off us we are stuffed! (and the value of the property too)

tigermatt

Can you negotiate with the builders a price to purchase it from them. If they offer a low price then this will probably be your best option, but obviously don't go agreeing anything until you and your solicitor are happy.

I can't see that the builders would have any reason to take it from you but depending on the contract of leasing they may be able to at any time, which is a risk you might want to sort out or be willing to take.

bulldoze

We do not want to buy anything that we thought was ours anyway! the builder never stated it was leased, but then again we did not ask.

Stonk

It's kinda natural to assume it would be yours though! Do not let the builder escape by saying "well, we didn't specifically state it was purchased". I mean, when you buy a house do you ask "are the walls leased?"; "is the roof leased?", "is the front door leased?". No - the default assumption unless otherwise stated is that everything is purchased.