freehold house, leasehold garage probs

laughsatcats

Hi,

We are in the process of buying a 6 yr old 3 storey, detached, freehold house with a garage under a coach house seperate from the property.

Our solicitors have just noticed, at the point when everyone is about to exchange contracts that the garage is in fact leasehold.

They have put everything on hold until this is sorted out but no-one seems to know how to sort it out. The people who own the house at the moment don't seem to care.

Everyone is threatening to pull out and we really do not know what to do.

Can we instruct the solicitors to just proceed and sort it out later?

The lease is for 999 years on the garage but no-one seems to know who owns the lease.

The owners of the house who brought it when built where never even told about it.

So the question is.....

Can we just instruct solicitors and tell insurance company then proceed and sort it out later or are there potential problems with this?

We really love the house and don't want to lose out.

Help PLEASE!!!

Thanks in advance.

Leven

The Freeholder is normally the person living above the garages in the Coach House.

Cornucopia

This is becoming increasingly common. If some or all of your property shares a building with someone else's it will always be potentially leasehold. Someone needs to check the Land Registry to see whether it is one entry or two. (This might help determine the solution).

Your sellers are being disingenuous - they will have signed leasehold documents and they will probably have been paying ground rent and a service charge.

If there are two entries in the Land Registry, then potentially I guess you could complete in two separate transactions. Your solicitor would need to check whether the two entries are tied by some sort of covenant. You might need the agreement of the Freeholder - this could be the owner of the Coach House or it could be a third party professional freeholder (especially if there are lots of flats in your development).

G_M

Wel, you don't even know if the sellers own the lease. So if you go ahead you could end up not owning the garage. Do you care?

Or there may be 10 years unpaid ground rent and/or maintenance fees due on the garage. Do you mind paying that?

The garage may be uninsured by the freeholder. It may burn down and leave you, once again, with no garage. Do you care?

If none of the above (or the 101 other possible issues) don't concern you, then sure, instruct your solicitor to proceed.

Assuming of course you are paying cash! If you are getting a mortgage, the lender will not release the funds till it is sorted out.

My question would be: how come your solicitor did not realise sooner. It is his job to investigate Title. Did you perhaps not tell him there was a gararge? Or when he sent you the plans, did he perhaps exclude the garage and you did not point out the garage was missing?

Cornucopia

It only costs a couple of quid to do a Land Registry search. If it were me, I would be on there now, trying to get more information.

laughsatcats

G_M wrote: »

Wel, you don't even know if the sellers own the lease. So if you go ahead you could end up not owning the garage. Do you care?

Or there may be 10 years unpaid ground rent and/or maintenance fees due on the garage. Do you mind paying that?

The garage may be uninsured by the freeholder. It may burn down and leave you, once again, with no garage. Do you care?

If none of the above (or the 101 other possible issues) don't concern you, then sure, instruct your solicitor to proceed.

Assuming of course you are paying cash! If you are getting a mortgage, the lender will not release the funds till it is sorted out.

My question would be: how come your solicitor did not realise sooner. It is his job to investigate Title. Did you perhaps not tell him there was a gararge? Or when he sent you the plans, did he perhaps exclude the garage and you did not point out the garage was missing?

Hi I have been told many of these things by various parties involved but also think my solicitor could have been more active on the situation earlier on. On the original forms I submitted to my solicitor I questioned the fact that the garage was under a coach house (back on 3 sept).
On the documents we received back from the land registry the garage is outlined as well as the house. Does this mean that according to land registry the garage is owned by the house owner?

G_M

laughsatcats wrote: »

On the documents we received back from the land registry the garage is outlined as well as the house. Does this mean that according to land registry the garage is owned by the house owner?

on what 'documents?

On the Land Registry Plan for the freehold Title?

Or on a seperate Plan for leasehold Title?

Or described in words on some 'document'? What document?

Or a Plan produced by the original buiilder?

........?????

laughsatcats

G_M wrote: »

on what 'documents?

On the Land Registry Plan for the freehold Title?

Or on a seperate Plan for leasehold Title?

Or described in words on some 'document'? What document?

Or a Plan produced by the original buiilder?

........?????

There are 2 documents which are copies of title plans from the land registry.
1st one outlines house and garage.
2nd document outlines only the garage.
both documents have different title numbers.

G_M

laughsatcats wrote: »

There are 2 documents which are copies of title plans from the land registry.
1st one outlines house and garage.
2nd document outlines only the garage.
both documents have different title numbers.

Are the Titles both freehold? Both leasehold? Or one each?

It is impossible to be sure without seeing the documents, But I would expect:

1) Freehold Title (number 123) for the house to show the house
2) Freehold Title (number 234) for the land comprising the garage and coach house above.
3) Leasehold Title (number 345) for the garage
4) Leasehold Title (number 456) for the coach house

However, an alternative could be:

1) Freehold Title (number 123) for the house to show the house plus the land comprising the garage and coach house above.
2) Leasehold Title (number 234) for the garage
3) Leasehold Title (number 345) for the coach house

laughsatcats

G_M wrote: »

Are the Titles both freehold? Both leasehold? Or one each?

It is impossible to be sure without seeing the documents, But I would expect:

1) Freehold Title (number 123) for the house to show the house
2) Freehold Title (number 234) for the land comprising the garage and coach house above.
3) Leasehold Title (number 345) for the garage
4) Leasehold Title (number 456) for the coach house

However, an alternative could be:

1) Freehold Title (number 123) for the house to show the house plus the land comprising the garage and coach house above.
2) Leasehold Title (number 234) for the garage
3) Leasehold Title (number 345) for the coach house

The garage is lease hold and the house is free hold.


The freehold title shows the house and garage
the lease hold only shows the garage.

G_M

laughsatcats wrote: »

The garage is lease hold and the house is free hold.


The freehold title shows the house and garage
the lease hold only shows the garage.

So 1) & 2) in my second scenario above.

I expect if you do a Land Registry search, you'll also find a seperate leasehold Title for the coach house (which you are not buying).