Share of Freehold Issues

Planet_Switzerland

I original made this post

https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5526817

But it looks like I posted to the wrong board so am starting a new thread here.

Basically I'm trying to buy a share of freehold in London, one up one down and my lender is Nationwide. My solicitor said from looking at the CML handbook it looks like they won't lend without having the freehold as security as well as the leasehold, which cannot happen because the freehold is shared with the other flat owner.

The solicitor sent an enquire to the lender about it, the very generic response from the lender was:

"please be advised if there are two titles to the property we will require out charge to be registered over both titles"

The solicitors sent us this response as suggested we just buy the leasehold and not have our names on the share of freehold.

To me though, it just looks like the lender has copied and pasted a generic response without acknowledging the situation.

Given how many share of freeholds there must be in London and how big Nationwide are, it just makes no sense that I'd need to buy just the leasehold in order to get a mortgage.

I've also searched these boards and other places on the internet to find any situation where someone has not been able to get a mortgage on a share of freehold for that very reason and haven't found any.

Are the solicitors/lenders getting the wrong end of the stick or am I?

ACG

This is not something I come up against very often. I did have something similar in Brighton earlier in the year and im not sure if it was difficult or I ended up just confusing myself.

But I think the issue comes to play with whos responsiblity is it to look after the communal areas, what happens if there is an issue with the roof etc. Im not sure if its just a management company issue or not. In the end I placed it and found a couple of lenders and at normal rates but I had to sit down and do my homework. Its not stuck though as it was the first and only time I had it crop up.

Might be worth speaking to a broker down your neck of the woods? There is a broker on this site called amn, I think hes in London he may be best placed to answer.