Selling a house with leasehold quickly

Waynepayne77

Hi,
I placed my leasehold property on the market and have accepted an offer,however the potential buyer has now insisted on me buying the leasehold before selling the property to them.

They have agreed to pay the leasehold cost however I understand that buying a lease takes time.The leasehold management company is called Homeground online and I haven't much good about them and my previous dealings with them have been poor.The worst thing is you can only contact them by email and response is slow

Has anyone had experiences or has a solution to speed up the process of purchasing a leasehold when selling a house
Thanks in advance
Wayne

SmlSave

The management company might be ok with you starting the application and your buyer taking it over to speed things up but it could still take a while just to get to that stage!

ognum

Waynepayne77 wrote: »

Hi,
I placed my leasehold property on the market and have accepted an offer,however the potential buyer has now insisted on me buying the leasehold before selling the property to them.

They have agreed to pay the leasehold cost however I understand that buying a lease takes time.The leasehold management company is called Homeground online and I haven't much good about them and my previous dealings with them have been poor.The worst thing is you can only contact them by email and response is slow

Has anyone had experiences or has a solution to speed up the process of purchasing a leasehold when selling a house
Thanks in advance
Wayne

Suggest you do a forum search on Homeground as if my memory is correct there are post about this company

G_M

Waynepayne77 wrote: »

Hi,
I placed my leasehold property on the market and have accepted an offer,
So you own the lease and wish to sell it. OK.....
however the potential buyer has now insisted on me buying the leasehold
Ah! So you are trying to sell a lease which you don't yet own? Why does the 'potential buyer' not approach the leaseholder direct?
before selling the property to them.
Why exactly does the 'buyer' want you to buy a lease and then sell to them? Is this a tax fiddle of some kind?

They have agreed to pay the leasehold cost
Well I would hope so! They can hardly expect to buy the lease without paying whatever the lease costs!!!!
however I understand that buying a lease takes time.
Yes - any property purchase takes time. A few weeks to a month or two is typical. Longer if there is a chain.

The leasehold management company is called Homeground online and I haven't much good about them and my previous dealings with them have been poor.The worst thing is you can only contact them by email and response is slow
Such is life. It is for the current owner of the lease from whom the buyer is hoping to buy to contact the management company.

Has anyone had experiences or has a solution to speed up the process of purchasing a leasehold when selling a house
Thanks in advance
Wayne

I don't really see where you fit in.

AnotherJoe

Ah! So you are trying to sell a lease which you don't yet own? Why does the 'potential buyer' not approach the leaseholder direct before selling the property to them.
Why exactly does the 'buyer' want you to buy a lease and then sell to them? Is this a tax fiddle of some kind?
======

Surely they simply dont want a complex transaction !! They just want one purchase and want to be assured they get the leasehold. Otherwise if they buy it separately then the OP could pull out of the property sale and the purchaser would be left with a useless leasehold.

Thats their perogative. OP can accept or reject.

I'd say he needs to speak to his solicitor and make sure that the purchasers arent allowed to back out after he's bought.

clint_S

Waynepayne77 wrote: »

Hi,
I placed my leasehold property on the market and have accepted an offer,however the potential buyer has now insisted on me buying the leasehold before selling the property to them.

I assume you mean buying the Freehold, as you already hold the Leasehold.

G_M

AnotherJoe wrote: »

Ah! So you are trying to sell a lease which you don't yet own? Why does the 'potential buyer' not approach the leaseholder direct before selling the property to them.
Why exactly does the 'buyer' want you to buy a lease and then sell to them? Is this a tax fiddle of some kind?
======

Surely they simply dont want a complex transaction !! They just want one purchase and want to be assured they get the leasehold. Otherwise if they buy it separately then the OP could pull out of the property sale and the purchaser would be left with a useless leasehold.

?????

If they "buy the leasehold", then how can the OP (or whoever is selling it since it's unclear if the OP owns it or not) 'pull out'? Either it is sold, or it is not.

How can the buyer "be left with a useless leasehold."? If they buy it, then they own it - what is useless about that?

Nike79

I assume OP talking about extending the lease on the property.

if so, how long is the current lease?

moneyistooshorttomention

I read OP's post as being that their house is a leasehold one, rather than a freehold one.

What it looks like to me is that the buyer is interested in the house - but was surprised/dismayed to find that it's not yer standard freehold house. They are still interested - despite that - BUT the house has to be changed to that standard freehold position before they will proceed.

I'd do exactly the same personally. I might look at a house that was leasehold but, if I decided I wanted it, then I would tell the owner that it must be transformed into the standard freehold set-up that was what I expected to buy and it was up to them to make the effort to do so if they wanted me to buy their house.

So - I'm assuming OP has to buy out the fact that it's leasehold and turn it into freehold before the buyer will proceed. Thus OP has to go to the freeholder and buy that freehold and then they can sell their house on to the buyer as a "standard normal house (ie with freehold)".

I still browse Rightmove for houses in my home area sometimes and it's most definitely not expected that houses will be leasehold there - they just AREN'T. So - when I spotted a couple that actually were - then my reaction was exactly the same as the buyers (ie that house-owner would have to sort that out - before I would contemplate buying their house).

AnotherJoe

G_M wrote: »

?????

If they "buy the leasehold", then how can the OP (or whoever is selling it since it's unclear if the OP owns it or not) 'pull out'? Either it is sold, or it is not.

How can the buyer "be left with a useless leasehold."? If they buy it, then they own it - what is useless about that?

Sorry I was assuming but hadn't stated, the op meant freehold as otherwise this whole thread seems to make no sense. Either that or they mean extending the lease back to a longer period.

Waynepayne77

Hi All,
Thanks for your responses

Yes the potential buyer would like me to purchase the freehold as part of the deal

I think the reasons for this may be

1.If they wish to rent the property out the property must be a freehold
2.You are unable to buy the freehold unless you have lived in the property for 2 years

Can anyone confirm if these points are correct?

Thanks
Wayne