More questions about newbuilds/mortgages :)

inacrisis

I posted a question last week re buying a new build and got some good responses answering my questions, we have been discussing again this weekend and now have a few more We went back to speak to Bellway about some houses we like and had a few more questions, the saleslady said the next phase for release would be Dec this year and then it would be June/July next year when they are ready to move into.

1) We spoke to Bellway about the leasehold, the salesperson said the fee to buy the freehold is 40 x the yearly rate so 40 x £250 = £10k I am guessing though we would have to wait 2 years from buying it before we can apply to buy the freehold and then there would be added legal fees, she didn't really answer when I said is it possible to negotiate the price with the freehold included. She basically said its not worth buying the freehold for 10k as its 'only' £250 per year and doesn't increase your house value if you sell (which I know isn't right) Anyway we are still hoping we can negotiate once we come to buying and only going to go ahead if we can get the house freehold. Has anyone any experience of negotiating with developers and got the house freehold when it was originally leasehold?

2) we currently have a mortgage on our apartment, to go ahead and buy a new build we need to have sold our current house stc, My partners parents have offered to pay off our mortgage so we essentially would just be paying rent/service charge (£230/month) So are we able to then go ahead and reserve the new house? this way if we can negotiate to get what we want we can reserve in Decemeber and then still live here until maybe Feb/March time when we would put this for sale. The housing association has a big list of people waiting and the other apartments here have all sold within a matter of weeks, so it would be a bit of a gamble and educated one and if the worst came to the worst we wouldn't have a mortgage and the parents in law aren't in a rush to get their money back so would be happy to wait until we sell our current place. Anyway my question is, the saleswoman said we need to have sold out current house at the time of reserving a new one to be eligible for help to buy, is this correct? I thought we would of had to have sold it before we officially completed on the new house? so if,

Dec 2016 - No mortgage on current apartment, Mortgage in principle from the bank for new build, current apartment not on the market yet.

Feb/March 2016 - put current apartment on the market for sale (hoping around 12 weeks before having to move out)

June/July - complete on new house with new mortgage with 5% deposit, 20% HTB scheme, 75% mortgage and paid back to parents in law for their loan to pay off existing mortgage.

3) If we did the above plan but hadn't sold our apartment buy the time we completed on the new house would we still be eligible for HTB scheme? We can get enough from the bank to fund 95% but would be a little more expensive.


Sorry for all the questions and thank you for any advice