Developer now informed us our house is leasehold rather than freehold

mikeyg1

I have a reservation form which states its freehold when we paid the deposit

Chanes

You need a solicitor! You might have an argument but if it is stated on documents approved how can they just switch at the last minute! A quick chat with a smart legal wouldn't be too expensive? As a thought, is there a service charge on the property?

mikeyg1

Yes I have a solicitor already, she was the one planning to do the exchange on the contracts! She's said she needs to speak to linden homes solicitors. We were told there was a ground rent which has since gone up but we were paying less than the others in the apartments as we were 'freehold'

Chanes

mikeyg1 wrote: »

Yes I have a solicitor already, she was the one planning to do the exchange on the contracts! She's said she needs to speak to linden homes solicitors. We were told there was a ground rent which has since gone up but we were paying less than the others in the apartments as we were 'freehold'

I would have been concerned reading there was a ground rent, I would have questioned how it could be freehold and have that charge (though I accept it might be possible, it just seems odd because how do you hold a freehold and have to pay a ground rent.) To be honest, that is an item your conveyancer should have paid attention too, I'd guess.

If you love the place it might not be worth getting hung up about, but I would avoid leaseholds unless I could buy the freehold for not too much. But then again, if I really loved somewhere I might live with it (no pun intended)

Mallotum_X

Alarm bells should have rung at the start. Coach house is just a posh word for flat over bins or parking spaces, it's a flat in effect hence lease hold.

Surprised your solicitor didn't point that out earlier, it's never going to freehold, so either tell the mortgage co and continue or pull out.

jm2926

over a bin store? really? Folk underneath in and out at all hours, and the lazy ones just chucking stuff in without putting it in the bins, ugggg. Think you've had a lucky escape.

I've lived in a flat over a space, and it was freezing. Wind whistling underneath and lack of insulation Heating bills were through the roof.

Landofwood

Yeah this type of flat is bottom of the barrel stuff. Hopefully you had a lucky escape.

Marktheshark

Freehold : You own the property
Leasehold, someone else owns you property and you have a bit of paper that lets you live there.

Landofwood

Marktheshark wrote: »

Freehold : You own the property
Leasehold, someone else owns you property and you have a bit of paper that lets you live there.

Thanks for the input

Cornucopia

Marktheshark wrote: »

Leasehold, someone else owns you property and you have a bit of paper that lets you live there.

That's how all property is. Except for the stuff you don't even have a piece of paper for.

There's no point in deconstructing things when people want practical answers.

@OP: The developer cannot simply convert your property to Freehold from Leasehold (assuming that's what it really is). Sharing the infrastructure of your property with another property is always a tell-tale sign that it is likely to be Leasehold.

Your Solicitor needs to double-check that it should be Leasehold, then someone needs to go back to the bank to get the Mortgage re-approved. Then you need to ask serious questions of your Solicitor about how it could proceed to exchange on the basis of this confusion, and work out whether it is his/her fault, or whether the paperwork from the Developer has been defective in its entirety. And then you need to assess the additional costs and make the responsible party reimburse you.

Well, that's what I'd do.