How can a leaseholder buy part of a garden from the freeholder?

b1975

Hello
I am a leaseholder of a first floor flat in a converted Victorian house. There are two other flats in the building - one below, one above - but they are both still owned by the freeholder so until he sells both flats (which I understand he has no plans to), I understand I cannot buy the freehold/share of freehold to my flat.
However, my query is.... the ground floor flat below me which the freeholder is renovating, has a huge garden and I have approached him about the possibility of splitting it and taking the top half for myself. It is physically possible and access to the top half would be via steps from my flat, to be added. He is very interested, but I would like to know what we have to do to make this legal:
- do I have to change the deeds of my lease and how do I go about doing that?
- do I have to go to the land registry?
- is there anything else I would have to get/change?
- how much roughly would I expect the legal/land registry costs to be?
- would I have to renegotiate the terms of my section of the land if the freehold was eventually up for grabs and would the other flats have access to/shared ownership of my section of land under a share of freehold regardless of my updated leasehold terms?
Any advise very much appreciated. Thank you!

eddddy

b1975 wrote: »

- do I have to change the deeds of my lease and how do I go about doing that?
- do I have to go to the land registry?
- is there anything else I would have to get/change?
- how much roughly would I expect the legal/land registry costs to be?

If you want to add the bit of the garden to your lease (as opposed to renting it, for example)...

Step 1 is to agree...
a) a price for the lease of the garden
b) who'll pay the freeholder's legal fees
c) who'll pay the leaseholder's legal fees

(In these circumstances, the leaseholder would often pay b and c)

Typically....

• The freeholder's solicitor would draw up a lease variation (to include the garden)
• Your solicitor would check it and agree it
• If you have a mortgage, I suspect the lender would want it checked as well
• The solicitors would execute it and it would be registered with Land Reg

b1975 wrote: »

- would I have to renegotiate the terms of my section of the land if the freehold was eventually up for grabs and would the other flats have access to/shared ownership of my section of land under a share of freehold regardless of my updated leasehold terms?

The terms of your lease will not change as a result of the freehold being sold (to your neighbours or to anyone else).

Assuming the lease variation gives you exclusive rights to use your flat and your bit of the garden, those rights will remain.

bouicca21

What Eddddy says. You will also need to get permission for those steps as presumably that amounts to a structural alteration.

My lease demises part of the garden to me; the rest is communal. I've assumed that this sort of arrangement is not uncommon.