absentee freeholder dilemma

iandavidcassidy

Hi

i have an offer of £25k off asking price accepted on a london flat. This takes into consideration the absentee freeholder.

I have been searching for ages and i am sure of the flat and location. the only problem is the remaining lease is only 72 years.

from reseach. is it true i need to be in the property for 2 years before i can apply for share of freehold or lease extenstion?

indemmity insurance covers if the freeholder returns and demands years of payments. but will it cover an expensive lease renewal?

would you advise me to walk away from this deal?

iandavidcassidy

can anyone help?

Ian_W

I think it's a difficult one - £25K off might be OK but you need to have a ballpark figure for what a lease extension will cost you.

Have you tried the leasehold advisory service? They're a govt funded body and their website is https://www.lease-advice.org which contains their contact details. They should be able to give you a ballpark figure and their are some pages on the site which give formulas you can use yourself.

The indemnity cover wont, AFAIK, cover the lease extension - only the costs of the freeholder turning up. We're in the same boat with a holiday cottage in Cornwall but that has only 40yrs left, which makes it unmortgageable, so I've agreed a price with the owner conditional on them going to court then a valuation tribunal and buying the freehold first. So far they appear agreeable and it's proceeding towards the County Court but obviously when they get an actual valuation from a valuation surveyor they may change their mind.

HTH.

iandavidcassidy

thanks ian! does anyone know if i'd need to wait 2 years to do anything??

Ian_W

Yes, certain of that. It was changed by one of the reform acts but 2 yrs is minimum to enforce a l/h extension or freehold purchase under the acts.