Leasehold property - rent review

staggered

Hi. Don't know if anyone has the answer to this or whether I need to consult a solicitor?

I recently bought a new-build leasehold flat from a major developer.

There's an annual ground rent on the flat. There's a section in the lease that says, on each rent review date, the ground rent will double.

But ... there's nothing in the lease (anywhere - I've gone through it loads of times) that says when the rent review dates are!

Surely there should be something setting out the frequency of rent reviews? If not, how can rent reviews be enforced? Can the developer have a rent review whenever they feel like it?

Sorry if this sounds a stupid question - I feel stupid for not spotting this in the first place, but it's the kind of thing you'd hope a solicitor would have spotted!

TIA

Fire_Fox

Your conveyancing solicitor should have spotted it, so you put your query to them. If they have made an error I would expect them to rectify the matter free.

Cissi

staggered wrote: »

There's a section in the lease that says, on each rent review date, the ground rent will double.

Sorry, nothing helpful to add, but that's pretty scary - an exponential increase forever :eek:

I mean, say that you started out with £1 and the rent is reviewed annually: after 10 years you'd be paying £1024 and after 20 years it would have gone up to the bargain price of just over £1 Million! I sincerely hope there is a mistake somewhere (and that the rent isn't reviewed annually)...

Icey77

I just renewed the lease on my flat and ground rent increases double up like this in mine too. However they are detailed to happen every 25 years.

staggered

Fire_Fox wrote: »

Your conveyancing solicitor should have spotted it, so you put your query to them. If they have made an error I would expect them to rectify the matter free.

Thanks for the comments.

The solicitors I used were draw-droppingly incompetent. I wouldn't expect them to rectify the matter. If anything, they'd probably make it worse!

I will, however, be asking a different firm of solicitors for advice.

If it can't be resolved (I'd be willing to accept rent reviews every 25 years but I suspect the builders will want them to be every 10 years), I'll take it to the Leasehold Tribunal.

Does that sound like a reasonable plan of attack?

Probably going to mean yet more stress.

Fire_Fox

Have you asked any of the neighbouring flats what came up in their conveyancing over this matter? You may have to ask quite a few people or even stick a sign up in the lobby. Have a read through this site, especially the LVT decisions, as it may give you a steer - if no joy their free telephone advice service is excellent: http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/

If you are going to use a different firm of solicitors, find one that specialises in leasehold disputes. Seems to me few do, as I found out when I made a load of calls for legal aid in respect of our dispute. My understanding is LVTs are very user-friendly and you can represent yourself, but it's still good to have the right advice behind you.

mynameisdave

Mines doubles every 10 years which is the least of my worries after what I have read about the company that the developer sold the frehold to!

Solicitor was competent enough to spot the amount, due date, and frequency of increase.

Richard_Webster

New flats built by certain national builders are often sold to companies that lessees would rather not have as their landlords but until it becomes generally known and there is buyer resistance to buying flats from these builders there is little that can be done about it.

There is one particular national builder whose leases are always badly drafted with sloppy plan colouring and bits missed out.

Fire_Fox

mynameisdave wrote: »

Mines doubles every 10 years which is the least of my worries after what I have read about the company that the developer sold the frehold to!

Solicitor was competent enough to spot the amount, due date, and frequency of increase.

Were you not given the opportunity to exercise your right to collective enfranchisement and buy the freehold yourselves?