Is the freehold or leasehold for sale here?

dagsky

Bit of confusion as to what exactly is for sale here. Quick recap, my sister is trying to sell of a flat she bought on leasehold less than a year ago. She's recently received a letter from the "Landlord" which i've attached here and just wanted some clarification as to what this guy is actually selling. From reading this myself it seems that he is trying to sell off a "master lease" if you would call it that & i'm almost sure in some other paperwork it mentioned this guy as being the "intermediate landlord" which if i am correct means this guy bought up all the leases to the flats from the freeholder & he then in turn sold on the leases to people in the flats right now.

So two questions, what is he selling according to the letter, and if 50% of the people in the flats want to buy what he is selling do the rest of the people also have to buy what he is selling?

I would ask her solicitor but she went for a one man band and the guy is away till monday :rotfl:

eddddy

Here's a simple example of how a 'Head Lease' or 'Intermediate lease' might work:

1. A freeholder owns land and maybe a building on the land

2. A head leaseholder (or 'intermediate leaseholder') might own a lease on part of the building (or part of the freehold property) which may contain many flats

3. Leaseholders (or Under leaseholders) like your sister each own the leasehold of an individual flat

Your sister's head leaseholder (or Intermediate Leaseholder) wants to sell their Head Lease.

By law, the 'head leaseholder' must give the 'under leaseholders', like your sister, the Right of First Refusal.
See: https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/right-first-refusal/

If, for example, only 8 out of 10 'under leaseholders' are interested in buying, that's fine. The head lease will then be jointly owned by 8 people.

dagsky

ok, thanks for your reply. So my sister is under no obligation to at all to buy what he is selling whether the other 8 people want to buy or not? Someone, i have no idea who, has planted in her head that if 50% of the under leaseholders want to buy what he is selling then she can be forced into buying what he is selling. Personally i don't think that's possible.

eddddy

No - she doesn't have to pay/participate if she doesn't want to.

But if the others go ahead, they will become her 'landlord'/'superior leaseholders'.

She'll probably have to pay them ground rent, service charges, ask them for consent for any alterations etc. And they'll probably take over responsibility for maintenance etc.

If she's 'part of the group' she may have more influence than if she's 'outside the group'.

And if the head lease is longer than her flat lease, participating might get her a cheaper lease extension.

dagsky

no she's trying to get rid of the place as she's learnt how you can get burnt with leaseholds ie service charges! She's now worried that her buyer may be advised against buying as there is a possibility that there will be no management company in place & apparently mortgage providers want to know that there will be a management company in charge ( management company contracted to end of year and they are not aware if any management company has been appointed begining 2018)
Notice to sell from the landlord only came 3 weeks after the buyers offer was accepted.