Can't find freeholder contact details

sparks11

Hi all,

I'm sorry if this is in the wrong place.

I recently bought a leasehold house. The lease is for 999 years so no worries about it running out any time soon. We would like to make some changes to the driveway, and eventually the garage. But as the lease is from 1931, the original freeholder's are no longer with us.

We have the original deeds with just their names on, and our title documents have the same names on, but no updated names of who we'd contact now, or any contact details, so husband and I are left with absolutely no clue how we go about getting the permission we need to make the changes.

As I say, the lease is from 1931. One of the delays to us completing was the previous owners not being able to provide any receipts for the ground rent, and so far we haven't had any demands for it. Its only £2.10 a year.

Does anyone have any ideas how we would find out who to contact?

G_M

Pay £3 to the Land Registry here and download the Freehold Title.

See who the current owner is.

sparks11

Are these different to the title documents we have? As they have the names of the original, dead freeholders on them...

Thanks

Edit: The house hadn't been sold since the early 60s, so us buying the property was the first time it was registered with the Land Registry.

-taff

I searched fro some easeholder info for a house that had been bought 50 years ago, the current leaseholders details were on there.
I assume you have to pay a peppercorn rent? If s, the info should be there.

sparks11

I'm not sure what peppercorn rent is, but we haven't had to pay the £2.10 ground rent and there is no evidence that it has been demanded in the previous couple of years.

-taff

That's the peppercorn rent, it's usually a nominal amount that goes to the freeholder. Do as suggested, download the details from the Land Registry website, it should show you who the freeholder currently is.


duh....edited to change from leaseholder to freeholder....

G_M

sparks11 wrote: »

Are these different to the title documents we have? As they have the names of the original, dead freeholders on them...

Pay £3 to the Land Registry here and download the Freehold Title.

See who the current owner is.

I doubt you have the Title documents for the freehold (though you may). You probobly have the original Lease which will, of course, be in the names of the 1st leaseholder and the freeholder at that time.

When you bought the property, you presumably also obtained a copy of the leasehold Title you were buying, which should show your name (as current leaseholder). Now you need the freehold Title to show the current freeholder.

SmlSave

The freehold title would have been applied for when sparks11 bought the property.

As it was a first registration the Land Registry will have no information on the freeholder.

Are the houses next door in the same position? Perhaps they know the freeholder?

G_M

SmlSave wrote: »

As it was a first registration the Land Registry will have no information on the freeholder.

Ooops! Missed that. My...... is this where I say 'bad'?

sparks11

A few houses on the street are still leasehold. We may just have to go house to house and ask. Nothing is ever simple

kipperman

If its any help, our last house was a 999 year lease granted in 1672. Last known freeholders were back then, and no ground rent had been paid for at least 100 years. Our title was registered as good leasehold. I did look into upgrading the title - I believe that you needed to get a deed of variation to upgrade to Freehold. We didn't bother as it simply didn't affect us, but may be a route that you might want to consider. OTOH I think the whole process was going to cost £2000 or so - but don't take my word for it in your case!

The other option, the one I'd consider, is if there has been no contact from a freeholder in over 70 years, then what are the chances of them popping out of the woodwork at this stage? You could just go ahead - I suspect if they did appear, their options would be limited, especially when you can prove you did try and contact. When you come to sell, indemnity insurance covering the "reappearance" scenario are pretty cheap.