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House has fallen through due to flying freehold, who is to 'blame'
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loveka
Posts: 535 Forumite
Hi there.
We offered on a house to rent out as a holiday let (it already is one, and has been for 20 years). When we saw the house it had just fallen through for another buyer who had had s survey done. The estate agent told us that the reason they had pulled out was nothing to do with the survey
We used a broker for our mortgage, which is a holiday let mortgage. We got an agreement in principal subject to valuation survey. Our solicitor brought up the issue of the flying freehold, and we had already mentioned it to the broker, who said it would be ok. We sent him the deeds and said please check the flying freehold issue before we spend any money. More assurances. So we went ahead with a structural survey- it's a 300 year old property.
After 2 weeks, we have been declined the mortgage because iof the issues we raised as concerns with the broker and were told not to worry about! It has cost us 1.5k which is an awful lot to us. Effectively I have had to work a whole month to pay for that!
The house we were buying has a small bedroom that'flies' over the property below. However, there is another property above which 'flies' over us. Effectively it is a flat, but the front doors are all in a row at ground level. There is also a 999 year lease.
I am furious with the broker. We must have asked him 5 times. He seemed to have forgotten we had sent a copy of the deeds and lease to him because he phoned asking to see them when the mortgage was refused.
Also, the estate agent didn't mention the flying freehold to us, but they must have known about it.
I really would like to recover some of the money. Any advice how please? Thanks.
We offered on a house to rent out as a holiday let (it already is one, and has been for 20 years). When we saw the house it had just fallen through for another buyer who had had s survey done. The estate agent told us that the reason they had pulled out was nothing to do with the survey
We used a broker for our mortgage, which is a holiday let mortgage. We got an agreement in principal subject to valuation survey. Our solicitor brought up the issue of the flying freehold, and we had already mentioned it to the broker, who said it would be ok. We sent him the deeds and said please check the flying freehold issue before we spend any money. More assurances. So we went ahead with a structural survey- it's a 300 year old property.
After 2 weeks, we have been declined the mortgage because iof the issues we raised as concerns with the broker and were told not to worry about! It has cost us 1.5k which is an awful lot to us. Effectively I have had to work a whole month to pay for that!
The house we were buying has a small bedroom that'flies' over the property below. However, there is another property above which 'flies' over us. Effectively it is a flat, but the front doors are all in a row at ground level. There is also a 999 year lease.
I am furious with the broker. We must have asked him 5 times. He seemed to have forgotten we had sent a copy of the deeds and lease to him because he phoned asking to see them when the mortgage was refused.
Also, the estate agent didn't mention the flying freehold to us, but they must have known about it.
I really would like to recover some of the money. Any advice how please? Thanks.
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Comments
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These set ups aren't uncommon so I don't believe the flying freehold is the issue here.
Xx0 -
Just for information, here's what each mortgage lender (in the CML) says about flying freeholds: https://www.cml.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1835/
You can see what your proposed lender says.
Depending on the precise reason for the refusal, you may be able to find another lender who'll accept the property.0 -
As Annie says, flying free holds aren't unusual.
The broker probably believed that the lender didn't have a problem with flying free holds in general.
But there's either something about this flying freehold that the lender doesn't like, or something about you that the lender doesn't like.
Have you asked the lender for the exact reason for the decline?
The broker can't force the lender to lend to you, so it's not the brokers fault you've been declined.
No one has the right to a mortgage, so there's no one who can be blamed if you are declined for oneEarly retired - 18th December 2014
If your dreams don't scare you, they're not big enough0 -
Lenders usually refund you your mortgage fee/a if they decline to lend. Is that not the case foryouu? What other costs did you incur that you'd like back?0
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Best case, this survey may be acceptable to another lender, so the £1500 not wasted?
Consider any other costs of acquiring this business, start-up capital at risk. You have to speculate to accumulate...0 -
Yes they did say the exact reason and it was flying freehold. I had spoken to the mortgage company and they said the mortgage was ready to go, just subject to the survey. The survey and searches are what we have paid for.
I will offer the survey to other buyers. It seems it's the only way I will see any of it back!
Thanks for the comments, I know we can't force them to lend, it's just that we were really worried about the flying freehold and kept being told it was not a problem and to go ahead with the survey.0 -
You must be able to get a more specific reason than that.Changing the world, one sarcastic comment at a time.0
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Yes they did say the exact reason and it was flying freehold....
So is your lender in this list, and is their response a straight "No"? https://www.cml.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1835/
If they have have a blanket "No" policy for flying freeholds, it's strange your broker didn;t know this.0 -
Thrugelmir wrote: »There's no value in the survey.
There is a value in reading it and deciding whether you want to proceed based on that.
We sold a survey to a subsequent buyer. It sped up the process for them and meant they were proceedable far quicker than otherwise.I'm a Forum Ambassador on the housing, mortgages & student money saving boards. I volunteer to help get your forum questions answered and keep the forum running smoothly. Forum Ambassadors are not moderators and don't read every post. If you spot an illegal or inappropriate post then please report it to forumteam@moneysavingexpert.com (it's not part of my role to deal with this). Any views are mine and not the official line of MoneySavingExpert.com.0
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