Lease Defective - stressed and help appreciated!

PDel

Hi am in the process of buying a leasehold flat. My solicitor has come back to me with these issues relating to my sale - I am wondering what I can do in this case? Should I pull out? Are there any solutions?

'The Lease is defective as some pages are missing and the title registers say that the property is on the first floor whereas the Lease says both ground floor and first floor. It is clear that the property comprises of the first floor and ground floor. The seller’s Solicitors are saying rely on your own inspection which isn’t a helpful response. We are also led to believe that there are three flats next to you or above you but the seller’s Solicitors are not providing us with details of their Leases or service charges / ground rent. Therefore we are not sure whether all expenditure for service charge / ground rent will be split equally between the four of you.'

Thanks so much. I'd really appreciate some expertise as I am not sure what I can/should do.

G_M

If this is really a 'freehold flat' then don't buy it. Are you getting a mortgage? I doubt your lender will agree to the loan.

However, maybe you are buying both a leasehold flat, and a share of the building's freehold?

If the lease is defective, as you say, the seller will need to gt it rectified. I'd advise you not to buy till this is done or you could face all sorts of issues later.

Again, any mortgage lender might not agree to lend.

Instruct your solicitor to inform the seller that no further progress will be made till the lease is rectified.

Speak to the estate agent too, if there is one, to say the same thing.

PDel

Thanks G_M, this is really useful. It's a freehold, I am not buying a share of the freehold.

Defective is the term the solicitor use - presuming because of the discrepancies in the title and lease and because some of the pages from the lease are missing? Does it matter that the property is a converted flat and hence the lease mentions ground floor and first floor and the title doesn't (as you need access from the ground floor to get to the flat but the flat is on the first floor)?

thelem

Do you mean it's a leasehold?

If you were buying the freehold you'd usually be buying the whole building.

eddddy

Your posts are very confusing.

Are you by any chance talking about a "Tyneside flat" or a "Criss-Cross lease" or "Crossover lease"?
See: https://www.wardhadaway.com/updates/tyneside-flats/

If not, you need to be clearer about what the freehold relates to, and what the leasehold relates to.

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]It can't be a freehold flat if you are buying a lease. With a lease there is a landlord and tenant and the landlord is usually the freeholder.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]With converted flats where each flat have a lease, the freehold is sometimes owned by a completely different person/company but also sometimes buy the flat owners themselves either as joint owners, if there are only a few of them, or more likely by a company set up by the flat owners who is hold 1 share in this freehold owning company.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]You might find the missing pages of the lease by downloading a copy from the Land Registry if the have one, or asking the landlord for a copy.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The most important part of what needs to be right is the lease plan which will outline the area within the converted building which is being leased exclusively to you. If this is wrong then the problem is serious.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If its an upper floor flat then unless the ground floor has an exclusive entrance, this entrance, and maybe stairway are shared, and shown a different colour on the lease plan but again its important they are there on the plan.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]If the ground rent and service charge provisions are part of the missing lease page document then you can't possible buy until they are found as you will have no way of knowing what you are committing yourself to pay.[/FONT]

csgohan4

if your vendor can't be bothered, why should you?

PDel

Yes, it's a leasehold. I had incorrectly said freehold. I have rectified it. Thanks for your input.