should I take on freehold?

harlequinng

Am buying a ground floor flat in a building of 2 flats. Vendor has offered me the whole freehold of both flats. Upstairs lease is 65 years. Leases of both flats have stated Lessees have to contribute 50% each to the Landlord's repairs.

Should I take it on?

1. Will I have financial gain when upstairs flat wants to extend lease and also if wants to buy share of freehold?

2. Is the vendor allowed to sell me the whole freehold without offering it first to the other flat?

3. As the whole freeholder, can I alter my lease without the other flat's agreement?

Thanks very much for your help

G_M

harlequinng wrote: »

Am buying a ground floor flat in a building of 2 flats. Vendor has offered me the whole freehold of both flats. Upstairs lease is 65 years. Leases of both flats have stated Lessees have to contribute 50% each to the Landlord's repairs.

Should I take it on? there are pros and cons

1. Will I have financial gain when upstairs flat wants to extend lease and also if wants to buy share of freehold? yes, you can charge for either

2. Is the vendor allowed to sell me the whole freehold without offering it first to the other flat? yes if they own it.

3. As the whole freeholder, can I alter my lease without the other flat's agreement? Hmmm. Not sure. Obviously not if it affects the other flat (eg if currently repairs are split 50/50 you could not make your flat liable for only 10% of costs as this would leave a shortfall of 40%). However I guess (note) if there is zero impact on the other flat, you could vary your lease.

Thanks very much for your help

How long is the outstanding term of your lease? Will you need to extend it soon? If so, owning the freehold makes it easier/cheaper.

What are they charging you for the freehold? More, or less, than the expected cost of lease extension?

Owning the freehold give you greater control over maintenance, oth in terms of what gets done, when, and at what cost. It also brings added responsibility.

To be honest, in a 3 flat building, and providing both owners are friendly/cooperative, shared freehold ownership works best. Trouble comes when one party is an absent landlord, or has no cash, or desn't care.......

Darlyd

OMG The words are all !!!! !!!!!!? :rotfl::rotfl::rotfl::rotfl:

harlequinng

Thanks G_M for reply

Short lease <65 years, So I guess better to get freehold.

DO people normally charge their neighbour (ESP upstiars ) for lease renewals etc? wouldnt that make life difficult between 2 parties?

If one does take freehold and other flat defaults their lease agreements, how can freeholder pursue things? Sue ?

Thanks

Jeffrey_Shaw

Yes, get the freehold reversion whilst it's on offer. Why wait until it's not? The price will reflect the added value attributable to the short lease terms. In due course the other flat's leaseholder will want to extend too. Once you've purchased, keep the whole freehold reversion intact: never, ever, sever. You step into L's shoes and you can enforce all leasehold covenants against Mr Upstairs. You can sue or, in an extreme case, threaten forfeiture [NB: this virtually never happens in real life, but it could!]