Extension Permission for Leasehold House

SMT1985

Hi,

I've recently purchased a victorian terrace in Manchester, which is leasehold.

I believe the lease to be 999 years from 1961 and the annual charge is only £5.

We bought the property with the knowledge that the roof was damaged and would likely need a full reroof. To make this more worthwhile we plan to do a loft conversion with a dormer extension and I understand I need to obtain permission from the Landlord to make any structural alterations.

I did a little searching on these forums prior to this post and understand many people don't bother gaining permission in similar circumstances?

What would be the risk of going ahead without permission? Should I just gain permission and should I expect to pay a fee? Can I take out protection if I do go ahead without permission?

I have emailed the solicitors who conveyanced the purchase but would appreciate any impartial advice so to avoid them sending us down an unnecessary and potentially costly route.

Many Thanks
Steve

TrickyDicky101

Do you know who owns the freehold? Is it a municipal authority or a private individual/company?

SMT1985

"The Lease is dated 1st March 1961 and is made between (1) Peter Nicholas and (2)
Ronald Simpson and Joyce Simpson for a term of 999 years commencing on 1st March
1961."

TrickyDicky101

Is there any further information on the title registry? I would have thought your conveyancer should have made you aware of who (currently) owns the f/h.

SMT1985

It specifies a list of some of the more essential positive covenants and the main restrictive covenants including "5. not to make any structural alterations or additions without the prior written consent of the
Landlord"

But I can't see any further information on the Landlord(s)

G_M

TrickyDicky101 wrote: »

Do you know who owns the freehold? Is it a municipal authority or a private individual/company?

"The Lease is dated 1st March 1961 and is made between (1) Peter Nicholas and (2)
Ronald Simpson and Joyce Simpson for a term of 999 years commencing on 1st March
1961."

So either the Simpsons or Peter Nicholas owned the freehold in 1961.

Who owns it now?

Cakeguts

Who do you pay the annual charge of £5 to?

SMT1985

We've not yet. This was one of the questions I've included to the solicitor.

G_M – I'm unaware of anyone else owning the freehold so I assume it's still the Simpsons and/or Peter Nicholas.

lwhiteman88

It's worth pointing out that you would need planning permission for this and as part of the planning application you are required to notify all interested parties of the land ownership. So I think it would be unavoidable to notify the landlord.

Edit: I read leasehold and assumed it was a flat! So you may not planning permission if you are able to do the works under permitted development. However if you apply for a lawful development certificate (something I would advise if you plan to sell at any point) you will still need to notify interested parties.

SMT1985

We've had to go through planning but it has been approved already.

lwhiteman88

SMT1985 wrote: »

We've had to go through planning but it has been approved already.

So in your application form you declared that you were the sole interested parties in the land? Or you said you would notify the owners but didn't? (Section 12 of the planning application form).

I would highly suggest you now definitely notify the landlord. If they saw the planning application they would either see you declared you were the sole owners of the land or that you did not in fact notify them.