Freehold Purchase - Proportions to be paid by DIFFERENT SIZED Flats?

GDB2222

robertlondon wrote: »

Thanks for everyone's views so far...

Well, you can't complain that you haven't had a wide diversity of views to choose from.

Fire_Fox

I think it rather demonstrates why you need professional advice in a situation like this instead of bodging a management company together. Marry in haste repent at leisure?

robertlondon

Fire_Fox wrote: »

I think it rather demonstrates why you need professional advice in a situation like this instead of bodging a management company together. Marry in haste repent at leisure?

To be honest I had expected that by now this issue would have come up so many times that there would be an accepted method resolving both the apportioning of the total freehold cost and the share issue in the resulting management company...

...rather than having to employ someone to "reveal" what the secret answer should be... or is it just letting us know their own personal preference??? I don't know. Perhaps it isn't a very common problem after all???

We're planning to ask both the solicitor and the surveyor that we've already engaged. I'll add their answers to end of this thread when I get them in case someone comes looking for answers in the future.

Thanks again for the thoughts and experiences given so far.
Any others would be greatly appreciated. Please give generously! :T

GDB2222

My only experience of this was in a block with 100+ flats. It was all done equally. That may have been for simplicity or maybe all the flats are the same size - I don't know.

In the end only about 70% of the flat owners coughed up for the freehold and the company had to take out a loan for the balance.

Mum_of_3_3

Hi there!

I live in a flat that was converted from an extended Victorian house. All the 6 flats vary in size from ours (the biggest) which has 2 huge bedrooms & all of the garden, to a very, very tiny 1 bed flat.

Our maintenance charge is proportional to the square footage of the flats, I really don't have a problem with this even though we pay more than anybody else. IMHO it really is the fairest way to do it, as if we were to buy our building ins separately, ours would cost more than the others, we have more of a roof over us than the others (we're ground floor, but hopefully you get what I mean).

We also own the freehold between us and manage all our money too (thank goodness!!) and each flat has one share in the Ltd Co that the money. maintenance is funnelled through. This way no one can out vote anyone else and we all have equal liability.

M_o_3

PS The flats were 'given' a 999 year lease when the management co was started, so that the renewal of leases would never be an issue I guess. The mortgages companies always seem very happy with this when anyone is buying, so maybe this is something to look into?

gfplux

hello robertlondon,
There is a fixed and normal way of dealing with this. perhaps you need to delete/ignore all the replies with opinions and concentrate on the factual replies.
I have owned two flats one in N20 London and one in Barnet.
two examples two exactly the same.

1) N20 - 12 flats in 1960's purpose built block. We (the 12 owners) owned the freehold through our own management company. Each flat owner having one share each. All expenses/charges split as a % of the the floor area of each flat against the total.

2) Barnet - Pretty old property converted to about 10 flats. EXACTLY the same system.

I now live in Luxembourg and the ownership and expenses split is also how it is done here.

Good luck.