Problems with a leasehold?

Benson

We were initially under the impression that the house we were buying was a freehold but in fact the current owner has now stated that he pays ground rent and the solicitor has confirmed this in her searches.

What kind of problems does this bring if any?

And are there any kind of guidelines as to what it would usually cost to buy them out or is it just what they decide they want?

Anyone had any dealings with Estate and Management as apparently these are the people who deal with the ground rent.

CloudCuckooLand

Will you will give this full consideration in the next 24 hours and then exchange anyway..?
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3027306

Knowing that fact should have been fundamental to your offer. Time to stop and renegotiate...

No wonder others are keen to get the chain sown up before you spotted it...
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/3019528

Jenniefour

I owned a house years ago which was leasehold - before exchange of contracts my solicitor wrote to the freehold company to ask if they would sell the freehold. They agreed to do this at what was a reasonable price. If I had not done this I would have needed to apply for thier permission for every possible alteration I wanted to make to the property, which had fees attached. And I wanted to own the freehold anyway. You might want to consider doing that as well. If not make sure your solicitor has gone through the leasehold ducument with you and you undetrstand clearly what the leasehold terms are. It is not a reason not to buy a house - providing you are happy with the leasehold conditions.

Benson

Excellent news sols were proactive and had asked how much to buy the freehold, it's £1k which is much cheaper than I imagined for the size of the plot!
Already in the process!

glottalstop

Estates & Management Ltd are the devil's agent of choice.

Why is your house leasehold in the first place, very odd !

Is it on a managed estate where the common parts / amenities are owned/leased/managed by the Peverel group of companies ?

Be very wary. Investigate all property freeholds, leaseholds and management leases to which you will be subject or be a neighbour to.

If after buying the freehold Peverel are in any way still involved, run a mile.

Jenniefour

glottalstop wrote: »

Estates & Management Ltd are the devil's agent of choice.

Why is your house leasehold in the first place, very odd !

.

Not uncommon - there were swathes of land that belonged to the aristocracy (still are) where houses were built and ground rent still paid. My mother still lives in one. Some of the older ones have been taken over by local authorities or independent freehold companies - who are sometimes only too happy to sell on the freehold interests.

Great news OP - you may need to pay the solicitors fees for the other side - do it then it's all yours. And take note of warning about Peveral before proceeding.

Benson

Ok thanks for the advice I shall look up peveral as I have no idea what thus is. Apparently in the area where I live a lot of the land/houses are leasehold.
My solicitor said she was wary of this company the minute the info came in!!

Benson

glottalstop wrote: »

Estates & Management Ltd are the devil's agent of choice.

Why is your house leasehold in the first place, very odd !

Is it on a managed estate where the common parts / amenities are owned/leased/managed by the Peverel group of companies ?

Be very wary. Investigate all property freeholds, leaseholds and management leases to which you will be subject or be a neighbour to.

If after buying the freehold Peverel are in any way still involved, run a mile.

So if I buy the freehold there could still be another company involved? Are these linked to estate and management?
Also if I buy the freehold but the neighbours are still leasehold would this have an effect on me? There's no common area shared between neighbors

Benson

Ok I've tried to do a search and I can't see that they are linked to estates and management although I could be missing something? I will certainly as my solicitor on Monday though

I'm not buying a flat if it's makes any difference as I see a lit of things are to do with maintenance fees etc. It's a detached house.

Ulfar

The reason you may have problems finding them in your searches is because the company name is Peverel and there are lots of results if you Google them.

Estate and Management and management have even more results and seem to be linked to Solitaire.

At this point I would run away, I used to be a director of a residents association and the management company were a pain in the !!!! to deal with and get anything done, they wanted to overcharge for everything. They weren't either of these companies who are much much worse.

Richard_Webster

Peverel, Estates & Management and Solitaire are all part of the same group.