Freehold Flats

noddynoo

Can I just revive this to ask a few questions?Sorry but we are really stressed and solicitors so unhelpful.We have now determined that what we are buying is a freehold house with the downstairs bit sold off on a long lease as a 1 bed flat.We assumed this would be no problem but now it seems our solicitor has been off sick and one of the other partners has said it is a freehold flat and hard to mortgage .I have looked through the deeds and at the end of the freehold title for our bit they list the downstairs flat as a lease but not ours.The restrictive covenants etc are identical on the title for both flats so effectively their lease is identical in wording to our freehold.I have no one to speak to about it until Wednesday so am hoping someone here can help.The current owner has a mortgage on it with HSBC but I am assuming they may be one of the few lenders who will lend on it HELP!!!

hazeyj

wavefinder wrote:

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:

I was just about to say that! You CAN get mortgage for FH!

hazeyj

AndrewSmith wrote:

Hi Doozer girl.

No, they are two different things.

What you are describing is where the owners of a block of flats together form a management company to purchase the freehold to the building. The individual owners of the flats still occupy on a leashold basis, with the freeholder being the management company.

A freehold flat is where the owner of the flat is not only responsible for the internal element of the property but, as an individual, is responsible for the external maintenance of his 'freehold'.

As Edinvestor and Riskaverse100 suggests, the best place to get the correct advice on the exact definition is from a solicitor, I can only comment on my own experience from dealings with Freehold Flats with regard to the mortgage side.

Hope this helps

Andy

Hiya, I am confused now as as far as I can see the above are one and the same, as the owners are "the management company", the only difference being the amount of poeple. You can either pay a a managing company to maintain the building or do it yourself. Either way your responsible as you as as a freeholder employ the managing company to do jobs on your behalf Are we sure were not talking about flying freeholds?

EdInvestor

noddynoo wrote:

The current owner has a mortgage on it with HSBC but I am assuming they may be one of the few lenders who will lend on it HELP!!!

This shouldn't be a problem for a lender.This is not a "freehold flat", it is a merged leasehold flat and freehold, quite common.

A freehold flat is indeed very difficult to sell.The reason why is because there are no leases assigning legal shared responsibility for the common parts of the builing - the walls, roof etc.

This is not the case with your flat, so don't worry.

It's possibly a good idea for anyone who is thinking of buying a leasehold property to make sure that they pick a solicitor who has experience with lease law to avoid this kind of hassle.

hazeyj

Hiya..even more confused now as the majority of flats are leasehold and sell no problem. In a leasehold there are always provisions in the lease for the landlord (or whoever they appoint) to manage the common parts etc. Am I right?

EdInvestor

I am confused now as as far as I can see the above are one and the same, as the owners are "the management company", the only difference being the amount of poeple. You can either pay a a managing company to maintain the building or do it yourself. Either way your responsible as you as as a freeholder employ the managing company to do jobs on your behalf

Bit of terminologocial confusion here methinks.A "management company", or "managing agent" is normally employed by the freeholder to manage a building, as in organise the maintenance, cleaning etc of a block of flats for instance and collect payment for insurance, service charge, ground rent etc.The management company doesn't normally own the freehold, it is employed by the freeholder.

Where the leaseholders of a building jointly own the freehold, they normally set up a company, eg 28 Primrose Place Ltd, to formally own the title to the property.Each leaseholder is a shareholder in the company.This share is bought and sold at the same time as any of the flats changes hands.

Are we sure were not talking about flying freeholds

LOL.:D I haven;t had any personal experience of these beasts but IIRC they involve the ownership of a bit of a building that projects out over someone else's land, don't they?

EdInvestor

hazeyj wrote:

Hiya..even more confused now as the majority of flats are leasehold and sell no problem. In a leasehold there are always provisions in the lease for the landlord (or whoever they appoint) to manage the common parts etc. Am I right?

Yes indeed, apologies, there was a typo in my post, now amended and should be clear.

weatherwax_2

Glad I found this thread. Our flat is a merged leasehold and freehold one in London. It's not a block, just a row of terraced houses some of which are wholly owned and some of which, like ours, consist of a downstairs flat and an upstairs maisonette (ours). Many years ago I asked for an extension on the lease and the freeholder offered me the chance to buy the freehold, which I did.

The thing is, my downstairs neighbour is selling up after many years (a nightmare, as she has been the dream neighbour ), but is worried because her lease is'nt long enough. I assume she has been told this, and I can well believe it as I was in the same position before I purchased the freehold.

How do I allay her fears by extending the lease for her? What is the procedure?

Many thanks for any advice.

AndrewSmith

EdInvestor wrote:

LOL.:D I haven;t had any personal experience of these beasts but IIRC they involve the ownership of a bit of a building that projects out over someone else's land, don't they?

Correct. You usually find these when you have a first floor maisonette with a block of garages underneath, or one of your bedrooms is above a shared walkway or similar.

As EdInvestor says if it is a 'share of the freehold' then there is absolutely no problem whatsoever.

Andy

EdInvestor

How do I allay her fears by extending the lease for her? What is the procedure?

The main point is to figure out how much to charge her. This involves getting a specialist valuer(surveyor) to work it out.There's an explanation of how it's done on this site:

https://www.lease-advice.org.uk

Note that the cost of a full lease extension can be very high. A shorter extension to say 125 years can be somewhat more affordable. After the surveyor has worked out the price, and she has agreed, then the solicitors do the paperwork.The lessee usually pays the lessor's costs.