Freehold on Flat??

LovelyLucy

I bought my first floor (top floor) flat seven years ago.

My flat and the flat beneath me have our separate entrances to our properties. There is no communal hallway. We do, however, share a garden.

The ground floor flat was recently repossessed. It was put up for sale.

I have now had a letter from the new buyers solicitors which says that we note that you are the freeholder of the ground floor property and they are asking for my charges for the next year.

I was not aware that I was the freeholder of the property. I have no idea of what these charges are or mean or what it means to be a freeholder.

I checked my documents from my sale and it says that I am a leaseholder of my flat and the freeholder of the downstairs flat. My mortgage company have me down as leaseholder of my flat only. It nowhere states how long the lease is and I have never paid any ground rent to anyone.

What does all this mean? Should I be insuring the downstairs flat as well as my own? Am I responsible for repairs? Why was none of this mentioned to me before in the last seven years?

G_M

If you own the freehold, that would explain why you are not paying ground rent on the lease for your flat.

As freeholder, you have clearly not sent sent yourself a demand for ground rent!

I suggest
1) you check with the Land registry what you actually own. For £4 each, download the 'Title' for both the freehold and leasehold for your property and see if your name appears fo both
2) if you ARE the freeholder, read your lease carefully - as well as telling you what your obligations are as leaseholder for your flat, it will tell you what your obligations as freeholder for the building are

eg
*insuring the building (and then passingthe cost to the two leaseholders of the flats)
* routine annual maintenance
* major works (eg new roof)
* collecting ground rent
* there may be provision for an annual service charge (for the works above) which you should be collecting and managing
etc