Buying freehold but just found out its shared ownership

MrsBerri

I am new to the forum so apologies if there is already a thread for a similar issue, though I couldn't find one that matched my problem.

My OH and I are currently in the process of trying to buy a freehold property. We were told the sellers were keen to move out asap and were hurried along in making an offer and sorting out our mortgage with them etc, which for us was fine as we are FTB and there was no chain either side. We gave notice on our rented flat and moved in with parents out of fear we would be overlapping rent and mortgage as we a were constantly assured the sellers were in a hurry to move out. We did everything our side as quickly as possible but it wasn't until the paperwork started coming through and it was mentioning ground rent that we got really confused. It was then after speaking to our solicitors that we realised it wasn't as straight forward as we were led to believe.
To cut a long story short we were constantly chasing for more info and only ever being told ''we are waiting for the sellers solicitors to get back to us with answers'' and its only now 3 months down the line we are finding out that they only own 50% (which we were already guessing may be the case by this time) share with a HA and they are now trying to staircase to 100%, the valuation for their staircasing with their HA is scheduled for a few weeks time.
Waiting is inconvenient but not the end of the world for us, so although annoying isn't really an issue. What is niggling at me though is a) why all the secrecy b) why is it taking so long? After reading some articles online I am wondering if perhaps they had to give their HA first approval, and thats what took this long? Though again they have not mentioned any of this so it is pure speculation. c) will/can they turn their 100% to freehold straight away before we exchange contracts (sorry I have zero knowledge about leases/staircasing etc) and lastly, with all the secrecy and waiting with little to no information, what else could happen, ie we are worried that after all this it will fall through still.
Apologies for the rambling though some/ any info or insight into this or from anyone else who has been through something similar would be really appreciated

Thanks

G_M

mrsberri wrote: »

.... In the process of trying to buy a freehold property. .....we gave notice on our rented flat and moved in with parents
seems a bit premature....!

......the paperwork started coming through and it was mentioning ground rent....... Its only now 3 months down the line we are finding out that they only own 50%...share with a ha and they are now trying to staircase to 100%, the valuation for their staircasing with their ha is scheduled for a few weeks time.
Waiting..... Isn't really an issue.

What is niggling at me though is a) why all the secrecy b) why is it taking so long?
a) they didn't want to lose the sale
b) because buying the other 50% of a shared ownership takes time

after reading some articles online i am wondering if perhaps they had to give their ha first approval,
yes

c) will/can they turn their 100% to freehold straight away before we exchange contracts
ask your solicitor - but i suspect you will either get
* a 50% shared ownership property or
* a 100% owned leasehold property

are worried that after all this it will fall through still.
i wouldn't wait for it to fall through - i'd walk away

MrsBerri

Thanks for the advice. Feared that would be the case. Wondering now if there is any way of claiming anything back that we have already spent due to being mis informed. It was advertised as freehold, they got us our mortgage based on freehold and we had our valuation based on this also, so assuming our mortgage is also null and void...

moneyistooshorttomention

They keep on saying they "want to hurry" - but this is 3 months down the line and you haven't exchanged contracts yet:eek:. That's not my definition of hurrying...

Errrr....you haven't Exchanged Contracts have you?_pale_

G_M

MrsBerri wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. Feared that would be the case. Wondering now if there is any way of claiming anything back that we have already spent due to being mis informed. It was advertised as freehold, they got us our mortgage based on freehold and we had our valuation based on this also, so assuming our mortgage is also null and void...

Depending what the estate agent said/wrote, you might actually have a case against them.

EAs now have regulations specifying what they can/can't say.

Check which scheme they belong to and contact them:

• The Property Ombudsman
• The Ombudsman Service
• Property Redress Scheme

MrsBerri

haven't exchanged contracts no. They seemed to be stringing us along and only now does it seem to be moving again (as mentioned assume this is because their HA had first refusal). We keep chasing the estate agents and our solicitors but noone seems to know what the hold up is and only now is info being drip fed to us. We are now waiting to know whether after they have staircased to 100% they are obtaining the freehold. At a loss what to do as calling and emailing seems to get nowhere.

MrsBerri

Thanks G_M appreciate the info, will look into it.
Wondering whether to call tomorrow and give them a deadline to tell me plainly what is happening/ planned to happen in writing otherwise we are pulling out.

Ulfar

Even when they staircase to 100% they may not be able to obtain the freehold. Houses that belong to a housing association/charity can be exempt from the rules allowing purchase of the freehold, they will be leasehold forever. As such the leaseholder still has to pay service charges.

Usually the seller has to give the housing association first rights to market for a period of time. This could still be the case after stair casing.

This may be why you are being strung along. The vendors obviously had no idea and obviously didn't understand all the clauses when they bought the property.

If it was me I would walk away, there are so many potential pitfalls and you don't know them becuase you don't know what terms the vendor bought the property under. You could still be bound by some of these terms after you buy the property.

In effect the vendor plus the estate agent have advertised something for sale that they did not own i.e a Freehold house. They may not even have had the right to advertise the portion they do own at this time. Whether this means you would have a case against them for costs could only be settled in court.

Kynthia

Is your solicitor in contact with the housing associations solicitor as well, as perhaps they can get some answers directly from them about how the lease will change with 100% ownership.

MrsBerri

Thank you all for your help. Our solicitor is in contact with the vendors solicitors and has the contact email of the HA as I have been forwarded an email where I can see this myself. But we did everything through the estate agents as we are first time buyers so didn't have solicitors etc already and they were keen to get the ball rolling. Not something I'll be doing again as I'm left feeling like they aren't wholly there to help us if that makes sense.
Its really stressing me out but only because of the (what feels like) deception. Or at least lack of transparency
thanks again for your comments. If we do pull put I will definitely be pursuing our costs back. As we wouldn't have even put an offer in if we'd have known

MrsBerri

Also, I forgot to mention, they'd had a previous buyer who had pulled out, though they are vague as to why, and this was a few months before we put an offer in. The paperwork sent to us regarding the ground rent etc and the land registry was all dated from that time ie a few months back. Which led us to believe they had filled all this out with the previous buyer. And perhaps this is why they pulled out. My point is though, It was common knowledge amongst whomever involved even back then that the property wasn't freehold. Yet it was still advertised as Freehold
Sorry like I say, it's really stressing me out