Buying the freehold

zipman23

I've got my leasehold house up for sale with about 80-82yrs left on it. After hearing Martin talking about 80yrs being the magic number, I tried to get a quote to buy/extend it from the holder. It'll cost £75 JUST for a quote and then another £75 to apply to buy it...then there the actual lease to buy.

Is this an average price to pay?

Why is 80 years the 'magic number'? Mortgage "only" has 29yrs left on it.

kingstreet

Many lenders have a minimum. As fewer lenders are open to a potential buyer, the more difficult it will be for them to get the mortgage they want and for you to sell.

Here's the list for info;-

http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/handbook/englandandwales/question-list/321

zipman23

So thats mortgage term plus 30 years...so 59!

Do you think the prices I mentioned for freehold quotes etc. are prices I should expect to have to pay? I think they're very high!

Richard_Webster

The 80 years is more about geting a flat lease extended than buying the freehold of a house.

Why on earth did you buy a house with only 80+ years left? Didn't anyone tell you they wera bad buy and you shoud insist on the freehold if you buy a house with such a ridiculously short lease.

Sadly some big builders have been able to get away with selling houses on 99 yaer leases insoem parts of the country to gullible people who didn't realise that the builder could make money by selling the freeholds onto some rip off property company who would ask quite a lot to sell the frehold when the leases got shorter. The builders in question should be ashamed of thmeselves because they were conducting their business in a unethical misleading way.

mart.vader

Look at this link : https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/comment/58801765#Comment_58801765

cramg

Our house was leasehold so we decided to buy the Freehold end of last year. The application fee was £90 just to get paperwork and a quote. Anyway, we spoke to them and managed to get the application fee waived. The First quote was £11,000, after negotiating over a few weeks we agreed at £5,000. Its going through now and should be complete in the next few weeks. The whole process can take a few Months so bear that in mind.

partialycloudy

£75! bite their arm off.
We paid £180 for our half of a Desk top valuation to agree the purhase the price of our lease. That was after paying £400+ for our own valuation.
Lease purchase came to £36000 between the two flats (not inc fees). Granted our leases only have 58 years left on them.... But this is why you should not let it get below the 80years.

zipman23

Richard_Webster wrote: »

Why on earth did you buy a house with only 80+ years left? Didn't anyone tell you they wera bad buy and you shoud insist on the freehold if you buy a house with such a ridiculously short lease.

Sadly some big builders have been able to get away with selling houses on 99 yaer leases insoem parts of the country to gullible people who didn't realise that the builder could make money by selling the freeholds onto some rip off property company who would ask quite a lot to sell the frehold when the leases got shorter.

I can only assume that there is some sort of advice in there so thankyou? It was our first house together so having 88(ish) years left on the lease didnt set off any alarms in our heads as we didnt know much about them. We pay £30/year so it doesnt exactly break the bank. I only asked for advice about the costs of buying the freehold and if it was an average price to have to pay but I guess we must both be gullible?!

The builder was Barratt Homes if that is of any interest to you but we didnt buy the house directly from them.

zipman23

cramg wrote: »

Our house was leasehold so we decided to buy the Freehold end of last year. The application fee was £90 just to get paperwork and a quote. Anyway, we spoke to them and managed to get the application fee waived. The First quote was £11,000, after negotiating over a few weeks we agreed at £5,000. Its going through now and should be complete in the next few weeks. The whole process can take a few Months so bear that in mind.

If I can sell the house and not have to worry about an extension then thats fine by me as it becomes somebody elses "problem". 80+years at £30/year is £2400ish so I'm gonna assume the figure to purchase it outright would be lower? We don't have that kind of money available to do that at the minute but its nice to know that you can haggle

We've only had 1 viewer who has asked about the lease but his offer to buy was WELL short of even the lowest we would consider selling at.

Soundgirlrocks

The lease is exactly that a lease do nothing and in 80 years time the property will revert to the freeholder. Once the lease drops below 80 years whats called marriage value ups the cost of extending the lease (effectively its compensation to the freeholder for not getting the property back in x years) If you have been in the property for more than two years you can extend the lease, an the freeholder can't stop you (although you will have to pay something for it) or you can start the ball rolling and pass that right on to the purchasers. I think if my memory serves me correctly you can extend the lease to 999 years and it effectively means you own the freehold. The leasehold advisory service has more information http://www.lease-advice.org but it will put some buyer off if you haven't done anything about it particularly if it drops below 80 years, and any good solicitor will make them aware of the pitfalls if they don't extend.

Soundgirlrocks

"The right under the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 is to add 90 years to what is left on your existing lease. For example, if you have 75 years left on your lease you will be given a new lease of 165 years. Alternatively you may be able to extend your lease to any number of years by negotiating with your landlord." Sorry don't know where I got the 999 years from! this is what it says on the leashold advisory website