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Shared Freehold. Wanting to sell but being 'blackmailed'.
JustWantToHelp
Posts: 7 Forumite
I am posting to find out what my friend's legal position is in this situation.
My friend and her husband live in a ground floor flat which they own and they share the freehold with the owners of the upstairs flat who rent it out to a family.
A few years ago, the upstairs owners requested that my friend and her husband agreed to a change in the freehold so that they could have multiple occupancy. My friend refused this.
A few months ago my friend put her flat for sale. She was then contacted by the upstairs owners with a request to lower the price by over £100K so that they could buy it and own the whole house. Quite obviously my friend refused this 'offer'. She went on to sell the flat for the asking price shortly after.
Fast forward a few months, exchange of contracts is supposed to happen on Friday. Upstairs owners refuse to sign the papers unless my friend agrees to multiple occupancy first.
My friend feels this is blackmail because if she refuses, the upstairs owner won't sign the papers and she won't be able to sell the flat. If she agrees to multiple occupancy, she will lose her buyer.
What is her legal position here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
My friend and her husband live in a ground floor flat which they own and they share the freehold with the owners of the upstairs flat who rent it out to a family.
A few years ago, the upstairs owners requested that my friend and her husband agreed to a change in the freehold so that they could have multiple occupancy. My friend refused this.
A few months ago my friend put her flat for sale. She was then contacted by the upstairs owners with a request to lower the price by over £100K so that they could buy it and own the whole house. Quite obviously my friend refused this 'offer'. She went on to sell the flat for the asking price shortly after.
Fast forward a few months, exchange of contracts is supposed to happen on Friday. Upstairs owners refuse to sign the papers unless my friend agrees to multiple occupancy first.
My friend feels this is blackmail because if she refuses, the upstairs owner won't sign the papers and she won't be able to sell the flat. If she agrees to multiple occupancy, she will lose her buyer.
What is her legal position here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
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Comments
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Sounds like extortion- what does her solicitor say? After all, he is being paid.0
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Solicitors are looking into it. I just wanted to know if someone has experience anything similar and what they've done. Cheers.0
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i would threaten them back say if the sale does not go through due to them the only option would be to rent out, to the noisest tenents i could find
A big thanks to all the comp posters for their effort0 -
They wouldn't care as they don't live in the flat upstairs, they just rent it out.0
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If the sale doesn't go through, accidentally leave the chip pan on and go out.Liverpool is one of the wonders of Britain,
What it may grow to in time, I know not what.
Daniel Defoe: 1725.
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JustWantToHelp wrote: »I am posting to find out what my friend's legal position is in this situation.
My friend and her husband live in a ground floor flat which they own and they share the freehold with the owners of the upstairs flat who rent it out to a family.
A few years ago, the upstairs owners requested that my friend and her husband agreed to a change in the freehold so that they could have multiple occupancy. My friend refused this.
A few months ago my friend put her flat for sale. She was then contacted by the upstairs owners with a request to lower the price by over £100K so that they could buy it and own the whole house. Quite obviously my friend refused this 'offer'. She went on to sell the flat for the asking price shortly after.
Fast forward a few months, exchange of contracts is supposed to happen on Friday. Upstairs owners refuse to sign the papers unless my friend agrees to multiple occupancy first.
My friend feels this is blackmail because if she refuses, the upstairs owner won't sign the papers and she won't be able to sell the flat. If she agrees to multiple occupancy, she will lose her buyer.
What is her legal position here? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading.
Sorry I can be of no use, but I am curious, what is "multiple occupancy" in this context?0 -
Multiple occupancy is where you live in a property with three or more people and at least one is unrelated to the others. This is also known as a 'House in Multiple Occupation' or HMO.
So basically people coming and going0 -
JustWantToHelp wrote: »Multiple occupancy is where you live in a property with three or more people and at least one is unrelated to the others. This is also known as a 'House in Multiple Occupation' or HMO.
So basically people coming and going
Why do they want that? So they can rent rooms to loads of individuals, rather than the flats as a whole to a family?0 -
Yes, exactly0
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