Leasehold seemingly changed to Freehold

dora37

After reading another thread on unowned property I decided to go onto the Land registry website to see if I could find out who owned the small piece woodland at the bottom of my garden...this is where it gets interesting....we bought our house (a new build) in Nov 2000, it was a leasehold property, original lease was with the builder,as is the whole estate. Last year we had a letter to say that the lease had been sold to a different company and the annual ground rent was now to be paid to the new company (it has always been due 1st April).

When I just went on to the Land Registry it has updated on the 1st February from Leasehold to Freehold, however we have not purchased it from the company, I randomly put a few other house nos in and theirs is the same.....anyone any ideas? Is this a mistake? Normal occurence?

Ian_W

Erm ... interesting!

I can only think it's a mistake either by the Land Reg or the solicitors acting for the new owners when they bought the leasehold from the builders. Doesn't make sense otherwise, often it costs several thousands, sometimes many thousands, to purchase the freehold to your l/h property.

Personally I'd wait until you get your bill in April and write to the company asking why they want ground rent when your property is shown as freehold and owned by you at the Land Reg. You could even send them a copy of the record off the website. :whistle:

Talk about, put the cat amongst the pigeons - someone's going to be in deep do-do somewhere!! _pale_ :doh:

alared

Two flats in my area are up for sale and are described as leasehold by the EA.
When I checked at the Land Reg.,they both had been changed to freehold on the exact same date last year!
They are not even all that close to one another,very strange.

dora37

Ian_W wrote:

Erm ... interesting!

I can only think it's a mistake either by the Land Reg or the solicitors acting for the new owners when they bought the leasehold from the builders. Doesn't make sense otherwise, often it costs several thousands, sometimes many thousands, to purchase the freehold to your l/h property.

Personally I'd wait until you get your bill in April and write to the company asking why they want ground rent when your property is shown as freehold and owned by you at the Land Reg. You could even send them a copy of the record off the website. :whistle:

Talk about, put the cat amongst the pigeons - someone's going to be in deep do-do somewhere!! _pale_ :doh:

Thanks Ian,

That's what I will do - this year won't be the first that we've paid to the new company - last year was.

I've put several more house no's into the LR website and there's has changed to freehold on 1st Feb too!

We enquired last year about buying the freehold when the new company took over the leasehold and it did go into many thousands - that's why I am so surprised about it apparently changing!

davelewis

Very strange. I used to work in the Registry and can't think of a reason for a leasehold suddenly becoming a freehold. Normally only occurs when both l/h and f/h come into same ownership they 'merge' the titles and only a freehold would remain. But I assume you would have had a lease of your plot and the whole estate would be owned freehold by the developer.
My advice - say nothing!!!!

rrwfotr

It's most probably a admin error, I doubt you own the freehold now. If it looks too good to be true it usally is.

dora37

davelewis wrote:

Very strange. I used to work in the Registry and can't think of a reason for a leasehold suddenly becoming a freehold. Normally only occurs when both l/h and f/h come into same ownership they 'merge' the titles and only a freehold would remain. But I assume you would have had a lease of your plot and the whole estate would be owned freehold by the developer.
My advice - say nothing!!!!

The whole estate consists of 2 roads - I have checked on houses in the other road too and there's is the same and all done on the same date - 1st February. There are probably 150 - 200 houses in total, so if it is a mistake, I would have thought it would get picked up quite quickly.

Anyhow I'll download the document tomorrow, see what that brings up and then bide my time and see what happens - I very much doubt we'll get something for nothing, but you never know

dora37

Well I downloaded the documents and it is as clear as mud! So still none the wiser.

Now I've got them I'll wait and see what happens in April (Normally Ground Rent is due) and then maybe have to see my solicitor to discuss.

EdInvestor

What about the woodland?

dora37

EdInvestor wrote:

What about the woodland?

Haven't got that far yet! It is actually classed as a different road to mine as it backs onto our property off another road. So I would need to buy and download some further information.

I wasn't expecting to have the leasehold/freehold issue, so I am looking to solve that mystery first!