Deed of Variation - who is responsible for paying?

GemmaMurdoch

I'm in the process of trying to sell my flat and am in the final stages and about to exchange. My buyer has suddenly requested a Deed of Variation to allow him to rent to his elderly mother. He has requested I pay for the this to be drawn up at a cost of just shy of £4k. I don't feel this is something I should pay for given it's his personal choice to have the lease altered and not down to an error or oversight on the lease.

I may of course be completely wrong and I'm loathe to delay the selling process any further! Any advise or guidance is gratefully received.

G_M

Is the freeholder happy to vary the lease? Is this current prohibition just a standard term included for no particular reason, or is there a real objection to leaseholders in the building letting their properties?

But botttom line: if you are desperate to sell and will lose the buyer, then pay, or offer to split the cost.

Otherwise tell the buyer this is the lease that is for sale - he can either

* buy it as it is
* walk away or
* pay to hav it varied to suit his purposes

It is comon for a seller to have to pay for lease variations where there is a problem with the lease (g it mis-describes the property), but in this case the lease is sound - just not what the buyer wants!

lincroft1710

If he wants to rent out the flat to his mother (or anybody else), it's his responsibility to cover the costs to facilitate this

need_an_answer

That's a very expensive deed of variation, in the last 2 years we have bought property that required one,we paid and each time I believe the cost was somewhere between £100-200

G_M

need_an_answer wrote: »

That's a very expensive deed of variation, in the last 2 years we have bought property that required one,we paid and each time I believe the cost was somewhere between £100-200

That may be the legal cost.

What about the freeholder's fee for their agreement.......?

need_an_answer

You know what GM,I 'm going to go back and look at that,but even so I don't recall any of our fees being in the £1000's for one element of either purchase.

Edited to add

I cannot see the actual cost of it detailed on either invoice although suspect it would have been covered in with management pack possibly,that was on both occasions £450

I can see the legal charge for producing the document by our solicitor as £120

In our case certainly not in the £1000's

GemmaMurdoch

Thank you everyone so far for the advice, all really helpful!

eddddy

GemmaMurdoch wrote: »

He has requested I pay for the this to be drawn up at a cost of just shy of £4k.

What specifically is the £4k for? As others say, it sounds expensive as a legal fee for a single lease variation.


However, the way most leases are structured, it would mean that every lease in the block would have to be varied - and so every leaseholder plus the freeholder would need to agree.

(I guess it's possible that £4k is a quote for the legal fee for varying all the leases. But the challenge would be getting agreement from everyone first.)

TBH, if your buyer is looking for a flat to rent out, and your lease has a 'no subletting' clause - it's probably time to start looking for another buyer.