Selling my flat (sold stc) ~ lease issues, help needed

kari001

I purchased my Ground Floor Flat just over 12 months a go, I bought it as a repossession with cash.

My flat is in a converted Victorian property and we have a criss cross lease. I am the freeholder of the upstairs flat and the freeholder of my flat owns the upstairs flat. I've recently been diagnosed with a chronic illness and therefore have decided to sell my flat.

Selling cheap has given me the benefit of finding a buyer quickly, but I have just got a list of queries/questions from the purchaser. Most of which are in relation to the Lease/Freehold.

The other Leaseholder does not live in the upstairs flat, but rents it out to tenants. I have tried to contact him via telephone as it has been requested he fills out a Freeholder enquiries form by the Purchasers Solicitor ~ he is not answering his phone and has ignored messages I've left. So it doesn't look as though he wants to complete the forms.

The purchasers solicitor also state that the division of the property into two flats appears to be in breach of covenants as the lease only describes 'a' dwelling. They have asked if there is an Indemnity policy in place and want to see a copy. I was not made aware of this when I purchased the flat 12 months ago, and no Indemnity was issued then. Surely my Solicitor should have picked up on this at the time?

When I purchased the flat I had no way of contacting the other Freeholder, my Solicitor didn't have details and had no way of getting them and the upstairs flat was empty. I therefore had to insure my flat separately. Now this is also causing problems as the whole building is not insured. The purchasers Solicitor wants a Deed of Variation to be put in place ~ I believe this to mean that they want amendments to the lease/freehold. It all sounds very costly and long winded. But again I can't contact the other freeholder to ask about his insurance etc.

This appears to be turning into a nightmare..... makes me wonder how I managed to buy the place last year and so quickly.

Is there anything I can do? Is there anyone out there who can advise? I am not using the same Solicitor to sell as I did to buy it so can't say to her you were meant to give me the correct advice when I bought it, so you sort it.:(

I am currently on sick leave from work and I'm living on SSP so can't afford anything too costly to sort things out, but I need to sell a.s.a.p

G_M

I'm not familiar with 'criss cross' leases - they are rare and to my uninformed mind it looks problematic. Having two seperate freeholds on a singlebuilding would be fraught with problems I'd have thought!

Similarly an inprecise lease is problematic.

And so is a lack of insurance responsibiity (and, I am guessing, a lack of any repair history, or sinking fund, or clear demarcation of repair responsibility.

I fear this can only be resolved by either

a) getting together with the other freeholder and putting a robust legal basis for the lease/freehold ownership in place or

b) selling cheap to someone who either does not ask too many questions, or is willing to overlook the problems in return for a cheap property. Note - a mortgage lender will NOT overlook these issues, so you'd need a cash buyer.

kari001

Thanks G_M

I feared that would be the case ~ although I'm fuming that this kind of scenario wasn't explained to me when I parted with the money to buy the place.

I think getting together with the other Freeholder to discuss anything looks like a long shot. If he's not willing to speak to me with regards to Insurance and filling out a Freeholder Enquiries form then he isn't going to agree to speak to me about changes to the lease/freehold.

I'm going to have to sit tight and wait for the potential buyers to pull out (which I imagine will happen soon into the New Year) and then sit in this very expensive mistake and work out what to do next.

gfplux

You should be taking these things up with your solicitor. He may be liable and even if you are sitting on a fat profit that does not absolve your solicitor of blame.

kari001

Morning gfplux

I'm selling 30k under the two EA valuations I had and only 3k over what I paid for it, so it's hardly a fat profit.

You're right about taking it up with my Solicitor though, and I'll be doing that as soon as the holidays are over and every things back to 'normal'

Also going to try to contact the other Freeholder today ~ on a number he doesn't know

propertyman

kari001 wrote: »

Morning gfplux

I'm selling 30k under the two EA valuations I had and only 3k over what I paid for it, so it's hardly a fat profit.

You're right about taking it up with my Solicitor though, and I'll be doing that as soon as the holidays are over and every things back to 'normal'

Also going to try to contact the other Freeholder today ~ on a number he doesn't know

These leases are common up North and it may be that the purchaser's solicitor doesn't understand the complexities and subtleties.

A freehold will only have one dwelling, the flat, the other freehold has the other dwelling.

tim123456789

gfplux wrote: »

You should be taking these things up with your solicitor. He may be liable and even if you are sitting on a fat profit that does not absolve your solicitor of blame.

well yes it does as the only "compensation" available is the financial loss that has been suffered.

and if there is none...

teajug

There should be a head lease and that should be with the land registry, you should be able to inspect this at the land registry office to see what has been registry with the other part of the building.

This will give you an idea what is going on with the building.

thequant

kari001 wrote: »

I purchased my Ground Floor Flat just over 12 months a go, I bought it as a repossession with cash.

Can I hazard a guess, that when you bought the place it was advertised as "Cash buyers only" ?

Just like houses made of concrete, or 24th floor council flats, there is a reason why some properties are marketed as "Cash buyers only"

If it was advertised as a cash purchase, I find hard to believe that you and your solicitor were unaware of these lease issues.

kari001

propertyman wrote: »

These leases are common up North and it may be that the purchaser's solicitor doesn't understand the complexities and subtleties.

A freehold will only have one dwelling, the flat, the other freehold has the other dwelling.

Thank you propertyman ~ My addled brain has just realised that after reading your response. I'll draw my Solicitors attention to that on Wednesday, and she can then pass it over to the buyers Solicitor

thequant ~ no it didn't mention anything about cash buyer only, although being that it was a repossession and had to be completed quickly I thought at the time I was in an ideal position because I had the cash.

teajug ~ I've never heard of that before, is it called a Head Lease or would it go by another name?

thequant

kari001 wrote: »

thequant ~ no it didn't mention anything about cash buyer only, although being that it was a repossession and had to be completed quickly I thought at the time I was in an ideal position because I had the cash.

Hmm, How did you find your original solicitor ?