Freehold House, Leasehold Garage

My_Name_Was_Already_Taken

Hi all

I am in the process of buying an end terrace house through David Wilson (it's a new build). The house is freehold but the attached garage is leasehold because there is a "coach house" flat above it. There are 3 garages in total in a row, 1 will belong to the coach house and the other 2 will be leased out to the house on either side. I am ok with this so far as I will only have to pay £1 for a 999 year lease. What I am posting about is that our contract states that we will pay 25% of the coach house's buildings insurance. This means that I would pay 25% and the other house on the other side of the coach house would also pay 25%, so effectively, the coach house gets half off their annual buildings insurance premium.

Does this sound reasonable? Let's say the building insurance is £150 per year, I would have to pay £37.5. Am I being a tight wad? I was just thinking about with a future resale - would you want to buy a house that must pay their neighbour 25% of their building's insurance? I will already have to pay a separate fee for the upkeep of the estate's communal park area and grounds at £140 per year (which by the way the contract says it can increase annually, but doesn't specify how much - thoughts on that one please...), so an additional annual fee on top of that is starting to rack up!

Another thought I've had is how does it work with my own buildings and contents insurance? If something gets stolen from the garage, would it be covered my my contents insurance because it would not have been stored in my property?

Advice and general thoughts on Coach Houses and Leasehold Garages/Freehold Houses would be most welcome.

Thanks!

Jon

david29dpo

I personally hate communal charges. As you say, these can go up every year (and the work never gets done) with little control plus the agent profits from it PLUS they charge for every piece of paperwork when selling PLUS..........need i go on?
The insurance sounds about right but i would have none of it, in other words i would not buy. Would anyone else?

Richard_Webster

Although the 25% seems a little high you have to remember that from the point of view of the person who lives in the coach-house he is having to take on buildings insurance for people that he has no control over and for that reason the insurance will probably be higher than it would be otherwise. .

I think in the grand scheme of things you are fussy about a detail that is not that important. Buildings insurance is not contents insurance and if something was stolen that would be covered by your contents insurance.

My criticism of these coach-house schemes is that they force an innocent coach-house owner into the position of being an unwilling landlord and he may not understand his responsibilities in that respect - it may be difficult, for instance, to get details from him of his buildings insurance when you want to sell.

br3nnan

I am similar to yourself. Bought a new semi with detached garage beneath a coach house flat. However I do not have to contribute to the coach house's insurance cost.

All that was stipulated to me was that there would annual rent of a peppercorn (£1) and that I must provide the house builder (who owned flat at time of buying) with a copy of my insurance stating that the garage was insured.

propertyman

25% is ridiculous.

Lets say its a rectangle divided in half with the lower had divided in 3.
That would suggest 6 parts
CH 3/6ths
Garages 1/6th each.

You then have to factor in
-the rebuilding costs of the habitable flat internal structures and finishes services and kitchens and bathrooms
-the internal roof areas and whether it is the coach houses or shared.
Pretty soon you can see that 25 % is excessive.

However it's a take it or leave it and as it's not a dwelling house you cannot seek review from the LVT.

that sad of the current premium is only a few hundred pounds that might be galling but a price worth paying for your home.

I would be more worried about
-the contribution to the repair if the structure and roof if any, and the access roads paths and insurance etc, particularly to ensure that there is a mechanism to force repairs to be done,
-and that the insurance is maintained each year with adequate cover and level of insured value.

Ask your solicitous to review the lease.

My_Name_Was_Already_Taken

Thank you all for your replies - we're going ahead with the purchase and at 25%. Not much we can do about it as our solicitor has said that the builder wouldn't change the value. We're still over the moon with the house so it's all go! :beer: