drawbacks of leasehold property?

devotee

zaksmum wrote: »

It is being sold with an EA but they also say they don't know the length of the remaining lease. They are saying why should I worry as it's "probably got years to run, we'll all be dead anyway!"

Wow how professional! :mad: You need to know the length of the lease as most banks won't even consider lending on leases that are 70 years or less... Is it an ex council house?

evoke

- Ground rent.

- Service charges.

- Major repairs every few years (in which you have very little say about the cost which can run into thousands)

- Scummy people living above/below you

- Hard to sell if not many years left on lease

- Very expensive to extend lease

- You are effectively renting it

- A lot more restrictions on what you can and cannot do in/on the property

- Much harder to sell than a freehold and, surprisingly, more expensive to sell in terms of the various fess you have to pay

Not many advantages, to be honest, other than it'll be considerably cheaper in the short term to buy than a freehold would be.

zaksmum

evoke wrote: »

- Ground rent.

- Service charges.

- Major repairs every few years (in which you have very little say about the cost which can run into thousands)

- Scummy people living above/below you

- Hard to sell if not many years left on lease

- Very expensive to extend lease

- You are effectively renting it

- A lot more restrictions on what you can and cannot do in/on the property

- Much harder to sell than a freehold and, surprisingly, more expensive to sell in terms of the various fess you have to pay

Not many advantages, to be honest, other than it'll be considerably cheaper in the short term to buy than a freehold would be.

It's a bungalow so nobody living above or below!

I agree with the part about effectively renting it though. Like the EA said, we'll all be dead by the time the lease runs out, but that's not the point.

I recently looked at a Bellway Homes new build 3 bed detached which is also leasehold, 99 years. Seems it's becoming more common to see leasehold houses now.

cramg

Have you asked the vendor if they will agree on freehold upon completion?
If the vendor is playing dumb, then my guess is the leashold has a low number of years left, meaning to purchase the freehold will be high.

Leashold on a house / bungalow is nothing to worry about really depending how many years are left on the lease.

The fewer years that remain on the lease, the higher the purchase price of the freehold.
Our 3 bed detached in leasehold, we purchased it 5 years ago. I enquired only last week about the cost of the freehold and the company told me it would cost £9K to purchase! Ouch...
Obviuosly this can be knocked down as its part of the haggling game, but still, If i was you, make sure it is freehold upon completion.

cramg

BTW, our lease has 71 years remaining.

cwcw

my parents house is leasehold. Many of the established and affluent areas here have a high proportion of leasehold houses. The ground rent is peppercorn £5 a year, the length was 999 years from the 1930s, when £5 may have been more significant, and there are no real restrictions on it ir affect on value/ demand. In effect, it makes no difference to my parents at all. But it very much depends on the individual circumstances of the lease and whether its unusual in that area .

G_M

Leasehold houses are quite common in the North I understand.

And increasingly common on modern developments which have comon areas to be maintained, and the builder wants to ensure a degree of future uniformity - so the leases provide for maintenance charges for common bits and restrictions on extensions, fences, colour of external pain, whatever.

Nothing wrong with this as long as you understand what you are buying.

david29dpo

Go on the official Land reg site, you can find out about the lease for £4.00

InkZ

I'd also be careful buying anywhere that's been on the market for 18 months where a vendor won't budge on price. If it's been on 18 months then it's overpriced, and you will risk loosing money on it. If the house is perfect and you aren't planning on moving for a long time then this may not be an issue for you, but you really need to consider resale. Why has it not sold? This is the question.

Jeffrey_Shaw

P could tell V (owner of leasehold) that P will buy leasehold if V serves Notice of Claim (for the f/r) on L (the reversioner).
The leasehold contract stipulates that, on completion, V will assign to P the benefit of the Notice.
On completion, V executes a Deed of Assignment in P's favour. P serves on L Notice of Assignment of the Notice of Claim [still with me, here?] and P can then press ahead without waiting for two years.