Buying freehold for a townhouse?

Maikeru

We've recently moved in to development of 21 townhouses held on 999 leases (from 1970). A year ago the residents clubbed together to buy the freehold by setting up a Freehold Company (which each of us have a 1/21 share in) - hence we now have a 'Share of Freehold' arrangement and do not pay ground rent (though I'm not sure they did so even before when it was just a 999 year lease).

The development is all communal gardens (no private ones) and the reason for the share of freehold is said to be to ensure the upkeep of the development, as it forces us all to pay a service charge to cover gardening, tree surgery, window cleaning and repainting of the property exteriors (every 3 years) - meaning nobody's house ever looks shabby and hence maintaining the attractiveness for all concerned.

Such developments were built in fairly large numbers in the 60s (Span etc) and I have now found a number of other similar developments where the houses are held on an individual freehold basis, and a residents association sets the rules on the upkeep of properties/communal gardens and collects the service charge. I had thought that a share of freehold is the only way to enforce service charges but these examples show that isn't the case.

I had a word with a leasehold enfranchisement solicitor about it but he seemed a bit baffled by the whole set up, his experience being mainly limited to flats.

If anyone has any ideas on whether it's possible to buy the individual freehold in this situation I'd be grateful to hear them.

stator

It's possible to have it set up either way but I don't think it makes much difference. I recently saw an estate where the individual houses were all freehold but the common areas had a management company, owned by the house owners. Due to a large number of covenants the house owners were obliged to pay the managemend fees and had to consult the management company on any exterior changes etc. On this estate I think there were a large number of people who refused to pay the management fee and had to be chased for it, increasing the costs for everyone else
In order to change it you would have to convince the other residents to spend money on all the legal paperwork and unless there's a good reason I don't think many of them would want to bother.

ethank

You can only buy the Freehold from the person who owns the Freehold. In this case the Freehold Company owned by the Residents. You can ask, but I am sure they will say no. It sounds like they want things to be collectively managed.

Why do you want the individual Freehold anyway? For lending purposes, A leasehold of 999 years is virtually freehold anyway. However you still need to get Freeholder permission to change anything etc - which it sounds like one of the reasons for them to keep things the way they are.

Maikeru

ethank wrote: »

Why do you want the individual Freehold anyway? For lending purposes, A leasehold of 999 years is virtually freehold anyway. However you still need to get Freeholder permission to change anything etc - which it sounds like one of the reasons for them to keep things the way they are.

The only reason is I think it may add a bit of value to the property. Buyers always seem to expect a freehold when it comes to houses (in this case the freehold is rather meaningless anyway but a prospective buyer may not be aware).

I wouldn't want to pay for it if it was going to cost each resident more than a few hundred quid each.

ethank

Maikeru wrote: »

The only reason is I think it may add a bit of value to the property.

I did not make my original point very well. For valuation purposes, a leasehold of 999 years will carry the same value as a Freehold.