Buying out the ground rent (freehold?)

nodsgol

Cheers for that. LOL Just my luck.

RikM

Golden_Anemone wrote: »

Nodsgol, this is the Northern Ireland forum. The legislation to purchase ground rent is NI specific. I don't believe your circumstances are covered by it.

Yes the NI situation is ridiculous: leasehold houses all over the place, so law was brought in to rectify that.

almillar

Possum - RikM's post #4 answers your specific question - step 4 means you no longer have to pay the ground rent. What you're after is to do step 6 - merge the 2 folios, freehold and leasehold, so that the freehold will then be in your name.
You either need to learn up on the subject or start paying a solicitor (a conveyancing solicitor), for whom it should be 'wee buns'.

Possom

almillar wrote: »

Possum - RikM's post #4 answers your specific question - step 4 means you no longer have to pay the ground rent. What you're after is to do step 6 - merge the 2 folios, freehold and leasehold, so that the freehold will then be in your name.

Cheers for this.

So if I done this, merge the 2 folios, freehold and leasehold, then if at whatever point in the future I sell my home the new property owner at that point does not have to pay any ground rent to me?

Am I correct in thinking freehold continues on after sale in the future?

RikM

Possom wrote: »

Cheers for this.

So if I done this, merge the 2 folios, freehold and leasehold, then if at whatever point in the future I sell my home the new property owner at that point does not have to pay any ground rent to me?

Am I correct in thinking freehold continues on after sale in the future?

I believe the legislation has been written in such a way that it will not be possible to sell the house on, leasehold. For ones currently leased the freehold will be bought out as a part of the sale process, if it hasn't been done before that, and it will not be possible to sell the lease on separately. That's my understanding of the intention, at least.

almillar

Am I correct in thinking freehold continues on after sale in the future?

I'm no expert, and I can't see you getting it done without involving a solicitor, but I think you're right.

Ive_A_Horse_Outside

Possom wrote: »

If I buy out the ground rent on my home, which I think I can do through Land Registry by paying the owner of the ground rent 8 years worth of ground rent, would this then mean that my home is now freehold?

Or does it simply mean that I no longer have to pay ground rent, but it's still not freehold? If this is the case, then after buying out the ground rent, how would I additionally make my property freehold?

Thanks.

Hi Possom - I can't add any helpful information for you - but I was interested in doing this myself. Will you let us know how you get on if you do decide to go thru the process?

warmhands.coldheart

Just looked into this myself.... we bought our house about 3 1/2 years ago now and we haveto pay a nominal amount each year.. (Less than £10) but to date no-one has contacted us to collect this. Spoke to our solicitor recently who dealt with our house purchase about buying it out and he reckoned, (now this is in our case as the fee is so small) even if you get hit for arrears, the maximum ground rent the lease owner can get from me is 6 years in arrears. (He thought possibly as the fee is so small they will only collect it every 6 years to reduce admin costs..)

To buy out the ground rent we would have to pay 9 years ground rent to the ground rent owner, but there is also the Land Registry fee as mentioned on other posts, plus a legal fee of about £150 - £200..... plus VAT on all this too he added....

He also importantly added that by simply buying out the ground rent you DO NOT get rid of any covenants that may be in the lease, as they will still remain on the title.
Buying out the superior freehold interest including the covenants is a different matter and greatly depend on any covenants on the title and how restrictive they are. This will obviously therefore depend on the house owners intentions with regard to the property. It could cost a substantial sum of money to buy out the superior freehold interest.

So unless you are paying a large fee every year or are a developer wanting to develop a site.... his advise was.. why bother!!!!

Possom

warmhands.coldheart wrote: »

He also importantly added that by simply buying out the ground rent you DO NOT get rid of any covenants that may be in the lease, as they will still remain on the title.
Buying out the superior freehold interest including the covenants is a different matter and greatly depend on any covenants on the title and how restrictive they are.

If someone bought out the ground rent (not the superior freehold) and they are later asked on an official form if their home if freehold or leasehold, then I wonder if they would state leasehold (since no ground rent) or freehold?

warmhands.coldheart

Possom wrote: »

If someone bought out the ground rent (not the superior freehold) and they are later asked on an official form if their home if freehold or leasehold, then I wonder if they would state leasehold (since no ground rent) or freehold?

Really you would need to ask a solicitor to answer that..... I've given up on the idea...really not worth the hassle or the money in my case........ didn't think it would be that much hassle to start with but then you never do till you get into the detail....