Freehold Nightmare?

NarkedAtZer0

Hi,

We've recently sold our house and had an offer accepted on a new house, no chain, mortgage sorted by ourselves and our purchaser. We thought everything was going swimmingly and would go through in record time.

The searches by our purchasers found that we only had 53 years left on our leasehold, which was a complete suprise to me, and their mortgage lender has insisted we buy the freehold rights before they will lend the money.

I've been chatting to the neighbours and it appears they have made enquiries in the past as to buying the freehold but the leaseholder has always blanked them and made no response. I'm instructing our solicitors in the morning to make arrangments to buy the freehold rights, but can anyone who may have been in a similar position give me any idea how long it might take to sort this mess out if the leaseholder is being stubborn, or how much might be an acceptable offer on 53years groundrent of £17 a year.

This is stressing an otherwise very easy sale of our property and any advice would be most welcome

GDB2222

You may have to pay 7%-8% of the house value to buy an extension to the lease. You'll need detailed legal advice if the freeholder is not playing ball, but I imagine it will take many months to resolve. I guess there is a procedure for applying to the Lands Tribunal in these circumstances.

penguine

You may be able to get some advice from this organisation:

http://www.lease-advice.org/www.lease-advice.org/

GDB2222

Frequently Asked Questions
I own a leasehold house. My freeholder has gone missing. What do I do if I wish to acquire the freehold?

The Leasehold reform Act 1967 enables you, if you qualify, to apply to the County Court to acquire the freehold. However, you will be required to demonstrate that you have made all reasonable attempts to locate the freeholder. In some cases an enquiry agent may be useful in carrying out a search and use his/her report as evidence that the freeholder is indeed missing. It is wise to seek advice from a solicitor both on investigating the freeholders absence and the application to the County Court.

PasturesNew

Whatever it takes, you have to do this really ... the problem won't go away, every day that goes by is another day the current lease is being eaten up.

You need to get an extension on that lease. The new buyer couldn't even apply for an extension until they've owned it 2 years and many lenders won't touch a property with a short lease, which means you are seriously restricting who can buy the place - and therefore it means it's worth a lot less than it could be.

Go all out to get this resolved, be all over it like a rash.

Richard_Webster

We've recently sold our house

The searches by our purchasers found that we only had 53 years left on our leasehold, which was a complete suprise to me

How long has OP owned house? What did his solicitor advise him about lease length when he bought?

Big question as to how any sane solicitor would have allowed someone to buy a house with such a short lease....

ILW

NarkedAtZer0 wrote: »

Hi,

We've recently sold our house and had an offer accepted on a new house, no chain, mortgage sorted by ourselves and our purchaser. We thought everything was going swimmingly and would go through in record time.

The searches by our purchasers found that we only had 53 years left on our leasehold, which was a complete suprise to me, and their mortgage lender has insisted we buy the freehold rights before they will lend the money.

I've been chatting to the neighbours and it appears they have made enquiries in the past as to buying the freehold but the leaseholder has always blanked them and made no response. I'm instructing our solicitors in the morning to make arrangments to buy the freehold rights, but can anyone who may have been in a similar position give me any idea how long it might take to sort this mess out if the leaseholder is being stubborn, or how much might be an acceptable offer on 53years groundrent of £17 a year.

This is stressing an otherwise very easy sale of our property and any advice would be most welcome

I find it difficult to believe that you have actually exchanged on the house you have "sold". If you have the buyers solicitor must have been fast asleep. It also seems a little odd that you did not know how long your lease had remaining.