Previous leaseholder never paid ground rent or service charge

Delphblue

The house that we are selling at the moment is leasehold, but we have no idea who we would pay ground rent to. We looked into it just after we bought the house 12 years ago and ends up having a cuppa in an old lady's front garden while she told us about her late husband (who we think was the leaseholder). We consulted our solicitor about it when we put the house on the market and were told that it's surprisingly common and not to worry about it.
Regarding it being on the market previously, there could be many reasons. We were advised by a friend not to take our house off the market until the buyer had shown some financial commitment to the purchase (eg paying for a survey) as they had two buyers pull out and it caused lots of questions and suspicion when other people came to view it.

katejo

Mark14 wrote: »

Everyone thanks for your advice and insight.

The situation at the moment is that I am still waiting for the estate agent to get back with the details of the lease, if there are any arrears and why the property was taken off the market and then put back on.

I put in an offer on the day of the viewing at the asking price and it was accepted (Estate agent said I would need to otherwise I would lose out). Having time to think about it I feel I was rather gulible and am thinking about offering a lower price due to the circumstances. I want to do this before anyone starts paying fees etc. Do you think this is a wise idea?

How can you make a sensible offer without knowing how many years there are on the lease? As G_M says, don't trust the estate agent re. lease info. I saw an enquiry on here recently where the buyer was poised to exchange contracts when they learnt that the property didn't have about 900 years on the lease (as the agent had told the buyer). It only had about 75. I don't know what happened to that planned purchase.

When I sold my leasehold flat, I was a bit worried because the freeholder had been really difficult. I had made repeated efforts to pay ground rent but the managing agent never paid my cheques in. He left them in a filing cabinet. When the sale went though, he did cooperate and the required payment was made.

Mark14

Yes I will wait until estate agents send me something in writing before proceeding any further and will keep you posted.

A bit of a side question what happens if the mortgage valuation report values the property lower than the asking price?

Sorry for asking all these random questions its just that I have never put in an offer on a house and things seem to moving so quickly.

Thanks,

AndyGuil

Mark14 wrote: »

Yes I will wait until estate agents send me something in writing before proceeding any further and will keep you posted.

A bit of a side question what happens if the mortgage valuation report values the property lower than the asking price?

Sorry for asking all these random questions its just that I have never put in an offer on a house and things seem to moving so quickly.

Thanks,

They will only offer a mortgage to the value from the valuation. If it is lower then you will either have to make up thehdifference with your own money, reduce your offer or try your luck with another mortgage provider.

propertyman

Mark14 wrote: »

Everyone thanks for your advice and insight.

The situation at the moment is that I am still waiting for the estate agent to get back with the details of the lease, if there are any arrears and why the property was taken off the market and then put back on.

Don't wait do the research yourself as you are unlikely to get it or accurate info. Asking as suggested face to face is far better rather than via the agent.

propertyman

HMLR online now, flat address, £3 lease length stated. Done.

G_M

Mark14 wrote: »

Yes I will wait until estate agents send me something in writing before proceeding any further and will keep you posted.

You misunderstand.

The estate agent is not your friend - he works for, and is paid by, the seller.

The estate agent is...... an estate agent. Not a lawyer.

Forget him. Ignore him.

As advised above, do your own research and if, as seems to be the case, you are not competant to do conveyancing yourself, appoint a solicitor and rely on him.

propertyman has referred you to the Land Registry. I did the same thing in post 2 above. Get the freehold Title and find out who the owner is.

Chocforever

Regarding unpaid fees, as others have said, your solicitor would check this for you. There may also be a management company involved with the day to day running of the block of flats and they would certainly know if they are owed service fees. There may be contact details of the management company visible in the hallway of the block of flats (so people know who to call if there is a problem).


In terms of ground rent, you could ask for a retention from the vendor for 1 year to cover any arrears. If the amount really isn't due for some reason, it would be released to the vendor once that year has lapsed.


The land registry documents should show when the lease was granted and the lease term. If it is quite a new block of flats, they often have lease terms in the region of 100 - 150 years.

ethank

If they have not paid the freeholder any ground rent or charge it could be because the freeholder is absent.....

You really don't need that hassle!