Buying the freehold of a new build Persimmon house?

JLH1979

Hi
We are in a similar situation now! We have a plot on hold now and have just received an asking price offer on our house from a proceedable buyer.
We have to go in to the sales office tomorrow to negotiate our purchase but we are getting cold feet with the leasehold. Persimmon won't share the terms of the lease and are not returning my calls. It's like they have something to hide.
I am worried after googling that they will sell the freehold to another company before we have the chance to purchase it and then the plot will become unsaleable as the cost of the freehold will be extortionate!
Did you go ahead with your purchase? Have you seen the terms of the lease? If anyone has anything positive to ss, I'd appreciate the replies.
Many thanks.

JLH1979

Forgot to add our house is a large 5 bed, 3 storey, detached on at £350k. No reason at all to be sold leasehold! I'd be interested to know if anyone has successfully negotiated the freehold on purchase.
Thanks

AnotherJoe

Checkout other covenants on the house which may survive buying the leasehold, there was a thread about that recently with some very onerous and open ended conditions, such as you couldn't sell the house without their permission plus paying a fee, the size of which fee wasn't specified !!

And are there other issues, for example common land that is maintained by a third party and fees are open-ended ?

These things all seem to go together on new estates.

JLH1979

There are no service charges, maintenance, other covenants on my development. Purely the leasehold and £150 per year ground rent, fixed for 10 years then inflation in line with RPI. I am concerned if they sell the lease on. As they won't share the terms, I don't want to be stuck with the new freeholder increasing the value of the land and being allowed to put the ground rent to whatever figure they see fit.

steeeb

Most houses have nowadays covenants (one I'm buying from the 70s has several) - I'm VERY surprised yours don't.

They're there to stop your neighbours running a mechanic garage or business that causes disruption etc to everyone.

JLH1979

I guess I wouldn't find out the covenants until further down the line, but we have bought from them before down the road (when they were freehold) and there was nothing major to be concerned about, it's just the lease I am panicking about.

Was keen to know if the original poster went ahead and if they saw the terms of the lease.

Chanes

If you finally manage to obtain the Freehold be mindful that the conditions of the lease aren't made into restrictive covenants which would defeat the point of owning the Freehold.

With reference to a point that states in another post that the leaseholder needed to pay the developer to sell it and it could only be sold with their permission. I suspect this is to prevent the house being sold while the estate is being built (competition issue) and would most likely be lifted when the estate is finished.

And don't let this issue spoil your ownership of your new home with too much worry, it must be really exciting having a brand new house and being the first owners! Enjoy it and best of luck!

clur84

I thought you only has the right to be offered to buy the leasehold if you lived in a flat not a house? If it's a house they can sell it on without offering it to you.

Right of first refusal
Landlords who want to sell the freehold of a building containing flats usually have to offer the leaseholders the first chance to buy it. This is known as your right of first refusal. - taken from gov.co.uk

Grouse101

I'm in a very similar position. About to reserve a plot from Persimmon with a 999 lease, £150 ground rent rising in line with RPI every 10 years.

Buying a new build is just terrifying. There are people out there who have had nightmare new builds and they dominate the forums with stories of unlivable homes. There are very few people who take the time to go online and document how nice their new home is and how hassle free the process was, but if Persimmon are selling 15,000 a year then you've got to assume that there must be some satisfied customers.

Throw is this stuff about leaseholds and it gets a million times for stressful. Some won't go near it claiming it's a scam and you'll end up with an house that you can't sell, others say that with a 999 year lease it's effectively freehold and shouldn't be a major deterant. It's obviously just a way for house builders to get a steady stream of income out of properties. I've tried to negotiate with the marketing team about the freehold and the responses I'm getting is that there's not chance of buying it now and I'll have to apply via the legal route in 2 years. I assume they plan to sell it to an investment company. I was told that I could expect to pay £8k in 2 years, unsure if this includes fees.

Regarding covenants, the marketing teams eventually showed me the standard covenants for the sites I was interested in. They're identical for the 3 sites and seem like common sense rules to ensure everyone gets along.

Another concern. All three sites I was interested in will not be adopted by the council, instead a service company will manage the site and communal areas for a fee of around £150 per year. This isn't capped or linked to RPI. Having lived in flats for the last 10 years I'm pretty used to ground rents and service charges, but assume that buying a house would be the end of it.

ITR1998

@JLH1979

We're also in the same position, have put down the reservation fee to hold the property, now being chased for a quick completion.

However, having looked into the leasehold status - which wasn't explained when we spoke to the sales team - things look quite concerning.

I have seen several articles which state that builders - Persimmon included - are selling the freeholds before the 2 years is up, therefore offloading the lease to make a quick buck and leaving the homeowners at the mercy of these private gold diggers.

Check out the Guardian's article from November last year - The ground rent scandal that is engulfing new home buyers

I'd also like to know if anyone has actually managed to buy the freehold after 2 years at a reasonable price - otherwise it will be bye bye Persimmon.