Buying flat with a short lease

yonk

Actually, English landlaw is feudal.....even if you are a freeholder, your land belongs to the Crown.

Loaded_Bachelor

....... and how did the crown get their huge chunks of (recognised ownership) land and property in the first place? A brief potted history of The Duchy of Cornwall from any historians out there would make interesting reading.

This is a question I would like to put to the dopey majority of English people who smile, laugh, clap and defer to any member of the royal family who comes within 10 yards of them............. and laugh at their totally unfunny jokes, quips and speeches (this particularly annoys me).

I don't doubt you Yonk that probably due to some piece of legislation in the year 1215 that they own all of the land; However, some consolation may be that I am permitted to shoot deer in my freehold back garden.

Oh and just in case treason is listed as a no no on this site's rules.......... I was only kidding and I remain your humble serf Your Majesty and don't mind bowing and scraping to you and licking your boots.

Yours sincerely,

Giles Forks

Hanoijane

I would like to know whether the new law applies to existing Leasehold properties and if so how one would convert an existing Leasehold into a Commonhold.

Loaded_bachelor
You can convert leasehold to commonhold but *everyone* with any interest in the property must agree.

If your landlord/freeholder does not agree to convert, then you would need to "enfranchise" meaning force the landlord to sell the freehold. This is supposedly easier now than under older legislation but still easier said than done.

You would then also need to amend any mortgages, end all the leases, amend all the titles at the land registry, set up a commonhold association, register it at companies house and then whoopee you get all the headaches of managing the property. Still interested?

There is an alternate "right to manage" with which you can remove a good bad or indifferent managing agent, but do you really want the hassle of making your neighbours on the ground floor pay up for a roof repair or a new lift? How much do you know about the new asbestos regulations, water audits, h&s at work act etc.....