Flying Freehold drama!

Tashab07

Hi,

My husband and I had an offer accepted on a 2 bedroom Georgian townhouse in January. It has taken 3 months to get our mortgage offer from Santander and now our solicitor is saying that they may not lend due to a small flying freehold on the property.

Basically a tiny part of the bathroom hangs over a walkway between us and next door (and he owns the walkway). We have rights of access through the walkway (in the deeds) but Santander request the following to lend on a flying freehold:

Yes, provided the title to the property incorporates (or will incorporate prior to completion of the mortgage) satisfactory and enforceable rights of support, shelter and repair, together with appropriate rights of entry. Indemnity insurance as per the first bullet point of 5.7.2 is not acceptable.

So our solicitor has gone back to the vendor to ask whether she has this in place, and guess what? she doesn't! She has since asked the next door neighbour if he would consider changing the deeds, but he is refusing!

Our solicitor has now gone back to Santander explaining the situation and to see whether they will still lend. We are so worried its going to be a no. We have fallen in love with the house and are really looking forward to owning our first home together.

Has anyone else experienced something similar and what happened? Any advice from anyone would be greatly received! Do you think we could apply for a mortgage with a lender that will lend on a flying freehold if the answer is no?

Many thanks

kingstreet

You'll probably end up with another lender.

See out the issue with Santander then consider a new lender which has no issue with this. A whole market broker will be able to recommend you a lender in about five minutes flat.

We got a recent case where Woolwich wouldn't allow its existing borrower a transfer of equity and increased borrowing to buy out her ex because part of the title included a flying freehold and they already held the mortgage from before they changed the criteria!

Tashab07

Thanks so much for your reply! I thought as much, I have been doing a bit of investigative work and it seems Halifax and Natwest lend on flying freeholds. My husband and I bank with them so that might be a good option.
We did actually get our mortgage through a broker, but we didn't know about the flying freehold at the time. If we did we would have chosen a different lender! Just hope the vendor is patient!

dominoman

Tashab07 wrote: »

Thanks so much for your reply! I thought as much, I have been doing a bit of investigative work and it seems Halifax and Natwest lend on flying freeholds. My husband and I bank with them so that might be a good option.
We did actually get our mortgage through a broker, but we didn't know about the flying freehold at the time. If we did we would have chosen a different lender! Just hope the vendor is patient!

What a pain. Keep the vendor informed all the way. They will understand that this isn't your fault, and flying freeholds could cause problems for other buyers too so they should be understanding.

Once you're in I would keep pushing for those deeds to be changed. It will help when it comes to sell.

Tashab07

Yes it is rather worrying, but we love the house so much that we're willing to take the risk. I'm pretty sure if Santander say no she will try and ask him again to change the deeds. Its in everyones best interest in the long run.

Thanks for your reply