22 year lease on a rental property?

HouseBuyer77

I'm assuming the estate agent would have a copy of the lease. How would I go about getting the title deed?

The EA may have a copy of the lease, the LL certainly will. They should be happy to show it to you. If not there's potentially something dodgy afoot (The lease is the most important part of this arrangement, refusing to let you look at it before you start proceedings would be akin to refusing to show you the property until you had put down a non-refundable holding deposit).

Title deeds available from land registry: https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry costs £3

Though it may not be electronically registered in which case getting hold of it may be more trickier and more expensive. As it's a unusual arrangement I wouldn't be surprised if there's something a bit unusual about the ownership also.

Has anyone got any ideas on how I could find out how much the legal fees would be?

It may be quite expensive. It's a very uncommon arrangement which means a decent solicitor may need a good chunk of time to read through the lease and advise you on it (e.g. for house purchases people often use more or less the same contract which allows the solicitor to streamline proceedings, here they may need to do work 'from scratch').

Ensure you get a decent solicitor to advise. It could be this is precisely the kind of thing you are looking for. It could be something you absolutely want to avoid. The answers lie in the lease and you need a solicitor to properly advise (after reading yourself to make sure there's no obvious deal breakers).

Make sure the solicitor understands your desires for the property. Ask them to advise on any pitfalls they could see. Don't go for the cheapest solicitor.

HouseBuyer77

The EA may have a copy of the lease, the LL certainly will.

Just realised part of the deal may be you paying for the LL's legal costs to draw up the lease. So there will be no lease yet.

This could work to your advantage as you'll have a better shot at setting the terms in the way you like. But does mean it'll take longer to sort out with the corresponding legal costs.

G_M

It sounds like there is no lease as yet. The terms will therefore be up for negotiation and agreement. That's one of the reasons you'll need a solicitor.

A fixed period of more than 21 years is a 'long lease'. This can be sold or transferred by the tenant to someone else. Hence usually the landlord will originally sell it to the tenant (who can then sell on).

The landlord seems to have deliberately chosen 22 years in order to exceed the 21 year rule. It would therefore be surprising if there is no initial purchase price on the lease. Alternatively perhaps the LL does not know of the 21 year rule, though this, too, would be surprising.

A fixed period of more than 7 years must be registered at the Land Registry (another reason for a solicitor).

Abstaaarrrr

Thank you for your replies. One more question, how do I make sure I find the right solicitor for this kind of lease? I don't want to approach one for them to tell me, yes we can do it not a problem, to find out down the line if something goes wrong that they have no experience and just said yes to get our money.

Cakeguts

What might be a very good idea is to look at where this property is on google maps. If it is where I think it is it is not far from the M20 motorway and motorway junction.

Abstaaarrrr

Cakeguts wrote: »

What might be a very good idea is to look at where this property is on google maps. If it is where I think it is it is not far from the M20 motorway and motorway junction.

That's where I believe it is from the map they provide on the EA website. But if I'm honest that doesn't bother me at all, if anything it's a bit of a bonus as my partner would use the m20 to comute to work so his journey would only be 15 minutes or so

G_M

Abstaaarrrr wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. One more question, how do I make sure I find the right solicitor for this kind of lease? I don't want to approach one for them to tell me, yes we can do it not a problem, to find out down the line if something goes wrong that they have no experience and just said yes to get our money.

If you do not have a personal recommendation, start with a Law Society search here.

Enter 'landlord and tenant' and select location.

Next check each firm for 'acreditations' (areas where the law Society has assessed them positively).

Next look at their website and see what they say about their expertise.

Finally ting for an introductory meeting with (xyz - the named property specialist), and then explain briefly to that person what you need and see if they bring up the relelvant issues.

G_M

Abstaaarrrr wrote: »

Thank you for your replies. One more question, how do I make sure I find the right solicitor for this kind of lease? I don't want to approach one for them to tell me, yes we can do it not a problem, to find out down the line if something goes wrong that they have no experience and just said yes to get our money.

If you do not have a personal recommendation, start with a Law Society search here.

Enter 'landlord and tenant' and select location.

Next check each firm for 'acreditations' (areas where the law Society has assessed them positively).

Next look at their website and see what they say about their expertise.

Finally ring for an introductory meeting with (xyz - the named property specialist), and then explain briefly to that person what you need and see if they bring up the relelvant issues.