Leasehold garage in freehold property

harz99

loja25 wrote: »

I've just put a deposit down for a New Build, during this process I was told that the Garage is Leasehold and the house is Feehold. I will get my full deposit back if I change my mind within 48 hrs.
I under stand now because of this Forum why this Garage is Leasehold as there is a Coachhouse above it. The lease is £99 ap and there is a service charge of £20 per month for the grounds and parking area.
My query is what are the rules for such leasehold garages?
Do we have rights?
Can the owner sale the leasehold and the new owner change the annual lease?
How difficult would it be to sell the House and Garage in the future?
This is a new build and we got a fantastic price reduction that was negociated the developers have been really helpful and thorough, but my husband has now said we cant buy this house becasue of the Garage, so I just wanted to get it clear in my head and to justify why I have to give up my dream home.
Thank you for your help
Regards

The "service charge" is probably not connected to the garage, rather it would be payable for the purposes of the upkeep of the "common areas" - bushes, grass, playpark etc. Such charges are commonplace on new developments.

Are you really considering pulling out for the sake of £99 per annum rental on a garage?

hazyjo

Ours is nearer £200 a year and includes insurance for the garages - so make sure you're not paying extra in your buildings/contents insurance to cover a garages that's already covered. Not always the case, so double check.

Jx

teachersv

Hi, I am in the process of selling a house on a new build that has this garage under a coach house issue. Every two years the painters come and paint the garage doors and are reponsible for the lock and the buildings insurance....phew a few more things I dont have to take care of. For £99 a year, rip their arm off !!

propertyman

Have a think £111 is for the estate charge.


Even if the garage was freehold, you would still have to pay this charge.

It's for the insurance of and the upkeep of the road way paths and any lighting to and from the garage, as well as any drains or fencing trees etc that are within this boundary.

zappahey

hazyjo wrote: »

We're in the same boat - buying an 8 year old townhouse with two garages in a separate building ...


We've had nowt but grief with the purchase as the garages were never transferred from the freeholder to the buyers so they had to arrange for a Deed of Variation to prove that they actually owned them and get their name included.

We sold a Persimmon house which had this sort of set up.

Unfortunately (for us) the buyer's solicitor had dealt with previous Persimmon sales and spotted an error in the lease. It was supposed to say that the lease could only be transferred as a package with the sale of the house. It actually said that the lease could not be transferred at all (or words to that effect).

Apparently it's quite common with Persimmon, so if that's who built the house...beware.

hazyjo

zappahey wrote: »

We sold a Persimmon house which had this sort of set up.

Unfortunately (for us) the buyer's solicitor had dealt with previous Persimmon sales and spotted an error in the lease. It was supposed to say that the lease could only be transferred as a package with the sale of the house. It actually said that the lease could not be transferred at all (or words to that effect).

Apparently it's quite common with Persimmon, so if that's who built the house...beware.

We're in now (6 months ago) - heaven!

Nope, wasn't Persimmon - and, thank god, all's sorted now

Our s/c also pays for the painting of all garage doors - another thank god! They all look very nice, smart, and everything's well kept. No problems with them being leasehold now, actually makes our life somewhat easier! Still wish they'd told us at the beginning though as it was a bit of a knock.

Jx

Strapped

Sounds like a great re-negotiation opener to me

hazyjo

Would probably suggest anyone in our shoes should have renegotiated, but I'm not sure it reduces the value of our home any more, and we felt we were at the point of being hospitalised with all the stress! Just couldn't face adding any more. Had far worse things going on in our lives at the time. Seeing as we'd got the house at a good price - and they had to deal with, and pay, for the Deed to be sorted out, it was easiest for us just to proceed as quickly as possible (ie over what seemed like a lifetime!).

It's very annoying to hear it's a common thing that the garages being leasehold isn't declared. It should be compulsory, IMO.

Jx

propertyman

hazyjo wrote: »

Would probably suggest anyone in our shoes should have renegotiated, but I'm not sure it reduces the value of our home any more, and we felt we were at the point of being hospitalised with all the stress! Just couldn't face adding any more. Had far worse things going on in our lives at the time. Seeing as we'd got the house at a good price - and they had to deal with, and pay, for the Deed to be sorted out, it was easiest for us just to proceed as quickly as possible (ie over what seemed like a lifetime!).

It's very annoying to hear it's a common thing that the garages being leasehold isn't declared. It should be compulsory, IMO.

Jx

On the other hand as you say you don't need to worry about who is going to organise and pay for the pot hole in the drive, shopping for insurance, or god forbid the insurance claim when the postman trips and falls.

hazyjo

propertyman wrote: »

On the other hand as you say you don't need to worry about who is going to organise and pay for the pot hole in the drive, shopping for insurance, or god forbid the insurance claim when the postman trips and falls.

Exactly! We actually see it as a plus point now. But to be spending hundreds of thousands on a freehold house and then to learn something is leasehold in all that is just annoying. Definitely a plus for us that the garages are all maintained separately - and it feels so much safer round the back cos of the flats over the top of the garages.

Actually, the postman still has to come round the front of our house on 'our' land to deliver to us But yep it's great and it's a point I'll be 'selling' to anyone if we ever moved (which I still swear I'm never doing again as long as I live!).

Jx