freehold purchase, shenstone properties

mark_w

Hi,
We are in the process of selling our home as we are emigrating.
We applied to purchase our freehold mid feb to shenstone properties in Litchfield, We are paying £4195 upon completion through our solicitor.
We were told that it would take 3 months and have so far heard nothing. I called earlier on and was told they could not give us any timescales and that they could not put us at the top of the queue just because we were leaving the country (which we obviously didnt ask for) I was just looking for some kind of guestimate.
She did say that, if she could get written confirmation from our conveyancer that she would put the freehold in our purchasers name instead of ours.
Does anyone know if this will speed up the transaction?

Our solicitors are closed now so any advice would be appreciated.
Cheers, mark

Couger64_2

Hi,

We have been trying to get our freehold from Shenstone since last November!! We have been told its only going to be 2 weeks since feb and are about to have our house sell and purchase fall through because as of today I'm being told its going to be July at the earliest.

The situation I'm told is due to Shenstone's mortgage provider going into liquidation and them having to refinance.

They have offered us the same option of having the freehold put into our buyers name but we are buying a new build so don't think this is an option

Probably not the news you were looking for but if you are able to proceed and put the freehold in your purchasers name I'd love to hear back from you as this may help us

Steve

mark_w

Hi steve,
Im intrested to know where in the country you are. We are in Northumberland.

Couger64_2

Hi Mark,

We are in the Midlands, not far from Shenstone properties. We have given up talking direct to them due to mis-infomation and them being quite unhelfpul. We now deal with their solicitor as he seems to give more reliable information

Steve

mark_w

I cant believe the time it has taken for you. Its not like its pocket change they are getting from us. They have the cheek to write on the initial quote that it is only valid for 3 month, look at the time everyone's waiting for them to sort out their financials!
We have tried to speak with them directly but they have said they can only speak to our solicitor yet she cant get thtough as they dont return any calls.
I wonder how long their "backlog" really is. I know of at least 4 properties in my area still waiting not to mention the rest of the country.

Couger64_2

There solicitor has told me they have people still waiting since oct last year. The whole situation is causing us so much stress. We were hoping to get a new build but that will fall through any minute due the freehold being in limbo and no timescale for a resolution thus costing us quite a sum of money

I have been able to talk to them but its pointless, they aren't nice people and really don't care.

We find it hard to understand how this can be legal, they have taken our money and so far we have nothing in return. Why they cant just release all the freeholds for people outstanding before the refinancing I don't understand.

We are now seeking legal advice should our sale fall through see if we can recover our loses from Shenstone

mark_w

We were told yesterday that we would also be waiting until july. I rang shenstone to see what was going on and they said 'the last properties are going to the land registry in two weeks' so I asked if this meant that the backlog would be done in 2 weeks, she said 'thsts not what I said, the last properties are going to the land registry in 2 weeks' I asked again if it will all be through in 2 weeks which sshe avoided answering and repeated her 'statement' again.

I spoke to my solicitor this morning as its sounded fishy as hell, she told me that the land our houses are on will be in the liquidized banks name and they need to change the land registry to the new company before processing any freeholds/lease extensions. So I think tjis was what they were talking about

Did you pay for your freehold upfront? If you did I believe there is something in the paperwork that you signed that shenstone said the process would take 56 days, this could be something for your legal rep to look at if it goes that far.

Couger64_2

Hi Mark,

As of last week Shenstone haven't even completed on their re-mortgaging so what they told you is not true (I've been getting 2 weeks since Feb). You are correct in as much as the properties have to be registered in the new lenders name but this cant happen until the re-mortgage is complete. I'm told by their solicitor he is hoping to complete at the end of May but there are no guarantees.

Once that happens a chain of events can start which will allow the new lender to release the discharged forms but there are 12000 properties so this is going to take some time.

We paid by installments and finished in Nov 2013. We didn't use our own solicitor which was a mistake, now we just have to wait and prey.

Hopefully they will complete soon and the process of getting the releases will at least be a little less up in the air but will still take some time

Steve

Couger64_2

Hi Mark,

Wondered if you'd heard anything else? My Solicitors been on holiday so haven't heard anything lately

Thanks

jodie269

Hi, I have been toying with the idea of purchasing the free hold on my property for some time, however wondered if any of you could tell me what process you had to go through. Did anyone from Shenstone come out to your property to view it?
Thanks

Couger64_2

Hi Jodie,

You just have to phone them and ask for a price for the freehold, they gave us the price over the phone.

Only problem right now is they are not in any position to issue the freehold so I wouldn't part with any money until the situation is resolved