Councils Right of First Refusal

carla24

Hi
We are in the process of selling our flat, as it an ex council property we have to give them the right of first refusal.
I have read up alot on this and understand most of it but we have one issue.
The council claim they sold us too much garden and they want to buy this back. The garden is on our deeds and it is legally ours. I have offered them the property to buy back and they say they will only be buying back part of the garden. Am I right that they cant say what part they want to buy back? We do not want to sell half the garden and surely we dont have to?
The guy at the council is speaking to his legal team and I am just trying to get some advice without paying for a solicitor!
Thanks in advance
Carla

Jenniefour

So the council made a mistake by selling too much garden - I can't see why they think you might be obliged to rectify this, whats' done is done, it's now on your deeds. What are the exact words on your document that refers to first refusal? This might - or not - give some clarity.

They do have the option of buying the whole lot back, changing the deeds and then re-selling your flat with a smaller garden.

carla24

Hi thanks for your reply!

The documents all say the same thing "you have to give the council first refusal and they have 8 weeks to say yes or no" doesnt say anything about they can choose what part they buy back!
If it wasnt a council property you wouldnt put your house on the market and only sell part of the garden because thats all the buyer wanted would you? im just trying to clarify this in my head, its only because it the council, surely they dont have that power Grrr!!

poppysarah

What is it referring to? selling the house...? You need to post the first part before that.

first refusal would be for the whole thing surely.

The fact they think you have too much garden is irrelevant. When did you buy the place?

carla24

You need to post the first part before that??? <<<<What do you mean?
The process is called "right of first refusal" becuase we bought the property off the council we have to give them first refusal to buy it back....we bought the property in 2006, we have had it for 5 years. I just want to know if they can choose what part they buy back? Im sure they cant.......just hoping someone has the answer lol
Thanks

sp1987

I think the fact they are going to 'speak to their legal team' means they have not spoken to them yet and somebody has come up with a 'bright idea' that may fade quickly when they turn the air conditioning on in the council offices.

I'd love to know what they want that bit of garden for.

Surely their right of first refusal is for what they sold you, i.e. title to that whole plot. The right to reacquire what you got at a discounted price. They did not sell you a little bit of a garden. That is like saying 'we will buy the upstairs bedrooms but you can then sell the lounge to someone else' lol. Otherwise they could take all the best bits and leave you with some concrete that would never sell, lol.

carla24

lol that made me laugh in a time of crisis lol thank you!
They want the garden back as the council tennants in the other flat have no garden now, as they sold it to us! Im sure they cant just buy back the "bit" they want, they made a mistake in selling it to us, doesnt mean that they have the right to just buy that bit back surely! The joys of buying and selling eh?
Thanks

sp1987

carla24 wrote: »

lol that made me laugh in a time of crisis lol thank you!
They want the garden back as the council tennants in the other flat have no garden now, as they sold it to us! Im sure they cant just buy back the "bit" they want, they made a mistake in selling it to us, doesnt mean that they have the right to just buy that bit back surely! The joys of buying and selling eh?
Thanks

I guess you wait and see if it all disappears into nothing or whether more than one person at the council thinks this is a likely scenario.

No wonder this country is in the state it is in.

Plus, surely like most councils they have more people to house than homes to put them in so the flat (with free very useful garden) would be a much better investment than a garden? The mind boggles!

silvercar

Who has been using the garden since you bought the flat?

carla24

Hi silvercar

Only us! Like I said its on our deeds and we own it, we have fenced it in and its ours.....the coucil have checked our deeds and have admitted they made a mistake selling it to us, but there is nothing they can do about it. I guess they are thinking this is their way out, but we are only selling the property as a whole, halving the garden would decrease the vaue and a great selling point would be gone, hindering us selling it on the open market!

Emmzi

Once they have bouh tthe whole property back from you they can vary the deeds as they like.

If they don't want the whole thing, then tough.