Complicated leasehold flat repo/bankruptcy situation

matmad

Hi all,

Looking or any advice really, to make some sense of a complicated situation, and to see if anyone else has had similar experiences!

I do all the running around for our Residents' Management Company which looks after the block of twelve maisonettes that I live in. My husband and a neighbour are the directors.

Things have been ok so far - steep learning curve and all that!

The owner of the flat next door to us has declared himself bankrupt and the flat is in the hands of the Receivers. It now has £1100 arrears in service charge, which I am very keen to collect as it is affecting our budget for the block.

I have heard from the Receivers just once, and just to let me know that the flat has been declared as one of his assets.

No-one else has been in touch with me, but as the owner was a friend, he has given me enoughinfo to track down the lender and the company acting for them.

To make the situation more complicated there is a disabled tenant in the flat. He has received communication from the company acting for the lender reassuring him that the lender 'has no plans to sell the flat at present'.

Even more complicated - we are in the earliest stages of trying to purchase the freehold for the block, or failing that (we are on Network Rail land), extend the headlease. To do this we need responses from all twelve flat owners.

I have invoiced the company accountant acting for the lender for the service charge arrears, and also hunted down her boss and will send him a copy, as I know they are obliged to pay.

The boss was very unhelpful, and informed me that the receivers wouldn't be interested in getting involved in the freehold puchase, although he perked up a little when I told him the leases had dipped to 76/77 years. He asked me to send him the details.

The problem seems to be that the lender themselves needs to know about the freehold purchase/lease extension application so they can decide for themselves if they want to be involved. The lenders won't speak to me, and the company acting for them is being unhelpful. After I explained about the freehold purchase/lease extension to a lady I spoke to at the lenders, she suggested I put it all in writing and send it to their Property and Insurance Department.

I was also given the impression from the company acting for the lender, that the Receivers would want to sell the flat fairly quickly. The boss man I spoke to didn't know I had seen the letter he sent to the tenant in the repossessed flat reassuring him that there were 'no plans to sell at present'.

I have to say I have been running around like an idiot making phone calls and emails etc, trying to do the best thing.

In the light of this complicated situation I have some questions:

1. The disabled tenant is a good neighbour, and it is in the interests of the whole block to hold onto good neighbours, but he seems naive and doesn't appear know his rights (neither do I). In case they decide to kick him out, I have advised him to get ahead of the game seek out information from Citizens Advice and also suggested Shelter. Is anyone able to give me any advice on whether they can kick him out?

2. Any suggestions as to how I can get the company acting for the lender to take the freehold purchase/lease extension seriously, and get them to talk to the lender about it as the lender won't talk to me?

3. If they can't be bothered to get involved, shall I just go ahead with the application and exclude that particular property from the process? When that flat wants to extend its lease in the future I am under the impression they will then have to come directly to us to do so if we are successful with the freehold purchase.

All advice gratefully received!

Richard_Webster

This is the kind of case where it might either go very quickly or the lender will faff around trying to decide what to do for a long time.

The easiest thing purely from OP's company's point of view would be for the lender to evict the tenant and sell the property. The buyer's solicitor would ask about the service charge situation and would either agree to pay it as part of the deal or would insist that the lender paid it out of the sale proceeds. Either way you would get paid. Trying to get the lender to get involved in the freehold purchase is probably a waste of time - it complicates things too much.

matmad

Thanks Richard, I was hoping you would reply!

I've sent out information packs to all concerned and done as much as I can. If they do faff about I think we will just go ahead without them - providing enough of the other flats want to go ahead!

Cheers,
Julie