Freehold Flats

noddynoo

The flat I am buying is about 80% of a big victorian house.A proportion was sold off as a flat on a lease in 1980 but the flat I have offered on is a freehold.My solicitor said this morning that freehold flats are difficult to get a mortgage on so now aswell as planning problems re the loft I am worried about this.I really want to pull out but everyone else seems to think i am over reacting.Is it possible to set up a lease once we have bought it?Or a managemenbt co. re the repairs etc?

AndrewSmith

Hi,

Standard Life Bank and Royal Bank of Scotland do lend on Freehold Flats, Others such as Scottish Widows Bank and Skipton Building Society will consider them for you.

With the first two there is no loading on the interest rate or anything daft like that for it being a freehold flat.

It is subject however, as always, to underwriting and acceptance by the lender.

Hope this helps

Andy

distilled

One thing to bear in mind and its only indicative, most housebuilders wont touch freehold flats with a bargepole when it comes to PX. They can be very difficult to sell on. Good luck with whatever you decide

noddynoo

Thanks v much I am not bothered by PX as i don't think I would ever buy a new build I am a period peoperty girl through and through!

noddynoo

BTW Northern Rock have given me a mortgage on it but I don't need much Even my solicitor was surprised

AndrewSmith

I can only echo what Distilled says about resale. They can bit a little more challenging to sell on.

Hope it works out ok for you

Andy

JennyW_2

what is the problem with freeholds on flats? Why don't mortgage companies like them?

wavefinder

we have the freehold of the flat we live in.a block of two flats.the other being leasehold.whoever lives in the leasehold one is responsible for a share of the maintenance costs inc repairs,inc new roof etc. i cannot see any problem in being a freeholder,in fact i would say its better if you have the freehold! you have a bit of control. i think there is a bit of unnecesary scaremongering here.ie. difficult to sell on,difficult to get a mortgage etc. a load of codswallop!
i mean have the laws on freehold changed in the last 5 minutes,or am i missing something? :rolleyes:

noddynoo

Thanks wavefinder that is what I thought too.The maisonette(us)owns the bulk of the property and the gardens and there is also a 1 bed flat.It is on a lease with 70 yrs left and if it becomes available we intend to buy it.I am going to get the solicitor to really check the lease out and what it coversxx

EdInvestor

What we are talking about here is a freehold house, where the basement has been sold off as a leasehold flat earlier, is that right?

I would doubt this would cause a problem as long as the lease for the basement is properly drawn up delineating that flat's responsibilities to contribute to maintence etc.

But if it does cause a problem, then the vendor can just have his solicitor draw up a lease for the remainder of the house ( the bit you want to buy) and then sell both the freeholod of the whole house and the new leasehold togther.

Check this out with your solicitor, it's quite routine.

noddynoo

Thankyou That is exactly the situation There is a small flat downstairs with its own lease and the upper maisonette which is bigger and has gardens and owns the freehold.Would we be able to draw up a lease once we buy it as the vendor is aging hippy and all this legal talk is not going down too well.Is it costly?This site has saved my bacon today btw as I had no one to turn to re questions as the agents are being very secretive I want to thank you all for clarifying things