Buying share of freehold flat with assurance lease will be extended after completion

AdrianC

Notnow wrote: »

Why can't all property just be free and we wouldn't have this mess. I mean free as in pay nothing, not freehold.

So who's responsible for the block that your flat's in, and the carpark, and the...

eddddy

I wouldn't exchange contracts on the basis you describe.

At the very least, you need it to be a condition in the sale contract that the lease will be extended (by a specific date - probably the completion date), then at least you have somebody to sue if it doesn't happen.

Otherwise, you're just relying on the word of a bunch of strangers, who will get no real benefit from extending your lease - and they may even have to pay legal fees to make it happen.

NeilCr

Notnow wrote: »

Is that commonhold? Sounds a right mess to me.

No. As AdrianC has said -much better than me -it's not

It isn't a right mess at all as the residents end up making the decisions - as opposed to a (possibly absentee) freeholder. I am a director of our estate and it's good to be able to have input on how it's run/what changes to make etc

Typhoon2000

Aren't all the flats on the same length of lease? The oh check online on the land reg site. This is the usual case when it's a share of freehold. Typically all freeholders will extend their leasehold at the same time ( for free of course other than solicitor fees).

bobobski

AdrianC wrote: »

How can a flat be freehold?

Flying freehold - the property solicitor's worst nightmare, but it does exist.

Hoploz

With share of freehold it can be cheaper to extend the lease, as everyone is a similar stakeholder. In other words, every shareholder will need to extend their lease at some stage. There's no point charging your neighbour 20k for permission if you're going to have to pay that much yourself to get yours done too!

There will be legal fees, but the losses caused by extending the lease (eg marriage value) don't have to be charged if all the freeholders are in agreement. It's an informal arrangement rather than a statutory one.

However as you've already found out, it can be tricky to get all freeholders to agree to things. This can make it awkward to get agreement for repairs in some cases, meaning you cannot carry out maintenance if you can't get hold of people, or if they decide they don't want to (or can't afford to) spend the money.