Freehold question

Homebuyer87

My partner and I are buying our first home together. The seller is in the process of purchasing the freehold. Our mortgage advisor found us a leasehold mortgage and we are waiting to see if we can move into our new home while the freehold is still being processed.

I have two questions as I am pretty clueless about how this works...does anyone have experience of moving into a property while the freehold purchase is still being processed?

Does anyone have any idea how long the freehold purchase will take? It's with Shenstone properties, I am aware there have been issues in the past with this company but i don't know if this is ongoing.

I hope that all makes some sense!

G_M

You can buy the lease and move in.

The freehold is a totally separate legal entity.

If the current owner is buying the freehold, then once he owns it, he can either keep it (and remain the freeholder) or offer to sell it to you.

Of course, it is simpler to wait till he owns the freehold, and then buy both the lease and freehold at the same time, but this may cause a delay.

How long is a piece of string? It could take a week, or 6 months.

Homebuyer87

Thank you for your quick reply. The current owner is buying the freehold on our behalf, the solicitors are transferring it straight into our name when it has all gone through. We should hopefully hear from our solicitor tomorrow whether or not we'll be able to move in while the freehold is being processed, I'm just excited and gettibg impatient and hoping there is someone out there who has been in this position!

G_M

If the freehold transfer is being undertaken as part of the overall transaction, I imagine a contact could be dran up allowing the lease sale to Complete on one day (and you move in) with the freehold Completion being a later date.

The risk might be that the contract for the Freehold might not be able to be Exchanged (if the process is taking longer and is still uncertain) at the same time as the contract for the lease.

potentially, then, you could Exchange on the lease (but not the freehold) Complete and move in, but then find the freehold purchase fell through (for some reason). You would end up as a valid leaseholder, but without the freehold you also want.

The alternative is to delay Exchanging on the lease till the purchase of the freehold is also agreed, then Exchange on both together.

Homebuyer87

Thank you. Hopefully the solicitor will have good news tomorrow. It has been almost 8 weeks since we had the offer accepted, I didn't anticipate moving in before Christmas as I know there have been problems with Shenstone, however now I know it's a possibility Im desperate to move!