Ground rent on freehold house

££sc££

Hi

A family member has put an offer in on a 5 year old, 4 bed semi detached freehold house on a new estate. Service charges for estate maintenance are ~£200 p.a. but they've been advised by vendor during viewing, there's also a ground rent to be paid.

I haven't come across ground rent being charged on a Freehold property before. Does this sound like it's actually leasehold or is this common?

Was going to ge them to bring it up with E.A but don't want to worry them unnecessarily as they're v excited.

Thanks

sonastin

I've come across the concept of "chief rent" being owed on a freehold property before now, but other than the name and the idea, I know no more. Could it be that and the vendor is calling it ground rent?

G_M

If the EAs are that excited, don't spoil their fun by bringing this up. Solicitor will resolve it in good time. Did the vendor say how much this 'ground rent' is?

££sc££

thanks Sonastin, haven't heard of that but could be!

££sc££

G_M wrote: »

If the EAs are that excited, don't spoil their fun by bringing this up. Solicitor will resolve it in good time. Did the vendor say how much this 'ground rent' is?

No i'll keep quiet, it just got me wondering. Good point re: solicitor. Not that I'm aware of

PasturesNew

House might be freehold, but garden might be on a license.

unhappy_shopper

Victorian properties have 'chief rent' which is also called 'ground rent'. Our home is freehold but we do pay a tiny amount (single digit amount) every 2 years as ground rent.

muskoka

I've heard of this. Gorgeous houses - realistic price, location beautiful i.e. grounds of old manor house & then find you gotta pay ground rent, even though you are buying the house freehold.

peter_m14

Owners of a freehold property can apply to the National Rentcharges Unit (part of the Department for Communities and Local Government) to redeem a rentcharge (aka chief rent). They can be contacted via [EMAIL="rentcharges@communities.gsi.gov.uk"]rentcharges@communities.gsi.gov.uk[/EMAIL] or by calling 0303 4444560

hazyjo

Is there a separate garage in a block that's maintained by the freeholders? Our house/estate is 8 or so years old. We pay stuff for the garages (am sure the ground rent is nil, but there's a s/c that's only for the garages and their insurance).

Jx

hcb42

My parents house (also victorian) had this. The rent was something like £2 a year.

EDIT: Oops I see we are dragging up old threads on the subject today