Extending leases when owning the freehold

AlexMac

I owned just such a freehold once- well almost; the basement flat of a 3-storey victorian terraced house had been sold off, so I had a freehold interest on 'my' upper part of the house (from memory, I think, without a lease), and acted as freeholder for the basement.

I bought at auction, and was a bit worried about the tenure, as the house was a wreck, and essential repairs included a new roof... But it all came good, as the leaseholder in the basement accepted responsibility for one third of the roofing cost and paid up without protest.

The other issue was when I came to sell. I thought I would have to set up two new leases like the OP's, sell off the leasehold on the upper flat and retain the freehold, as it was suggested to me that some lenders would be unhappy with the tenure; but in the event, I found a buyer who accepted it as it was, freehold and all. This was great, as it got me out of the freeholder responsibilities of continuing to have to manage, insure, collect service charges and repair, do asbestos surveys etc.

So assuming you do use a solicitor, ask about the implications when you eventually sell on; and while you might consider creating a shared freehold as that might be more attractive to future buyers as long as the other owner agrees, make sure they (the solicitors) keep it simple....

Not that I am accusing lawyers of making things uneccessarily complex to preserve their future income flow... But, I was seriously p!ssed when I sold another flat (which was a shared freehold) a few years ago, to discover that when the leases has been rewritten only a few years prior to my purchasing it, the drafting solicitor had stitched up a clause which reuired them to be involved in every future sale in perpetuity! So I had to pay this local solicitor a ton or so for a completely uneccessary deed or permission- a very expensive 2-page bit of paper - even though they were not acting for me or my buyer. (There- rant over!)