Buying a Flat- lease plan incorrect

jsarchitect

Hi all


I'd be grateful for some help.


My wife and I are in the process of buying a flat, and all has gone well so far except for an issue with the lease plan. The building was converted into flats in the 1990s and the lease plan shows the red ownership line round the correct location of the flat. However where we share a party wall with the next door flat, the red line goes roughly 1m into the next flat in one area and about the same into our flat in another. In simple terms, it shows we would own part of their bathroom, and they would own part of ours!


It looks like the plan used was perhaps the planning application plan, but what was built was actually slightly different, perhaps redrawn for the building regs application.


We had requested this be sorted by the seller, but would of course need both our flat and the next door flat to vary their lease plans, and the freeholder's consent (plus solicitors fees for all). The vendor and their solicitor tried to get away with it by claiming the plan was correct. I guess I’m lucky that as an architect and was able to clearly show with a drawing that they were basically lying through their noses.

The vendor has offered to pay for an indemnity policy to cover this, which would likely only cost then £200 or so.
We are wary as when it comes to selling the flat again in 3-4 years, we would likely have the same problem. We've been waiting 4 months from offer now, so it's beginning to drag on and we're worried it will take months to resolve.


Does anyone have any experience of this, and how it can be resolved? Should we avoid the indemnity and push for a deed of variation?


Thanks!

AlexMac

We had a similar lesser problem on a leasehold flat's redline; ambiguity about communal or dedicated ownership of our outside terrace adjacent to our doors.

Our solicitor insisted on a deed of variation at the vendor's expense, so it depends if, when you come to sell you get a stickler like her acting for your buyer, or someone like you who is OK with an indemnity to paper over the flaws.

I'm inclined not to give anyone ammunition to use against me in last minute chiselling over the price; for all you know, 4 years down the line you might be in a hurry to sell in a buyers' market...

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]I think a deed of variation will take a long time, will involve both owners and both mortgage co's.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]Bearing in mind you will also own part of next door its not just a one way benefit to next door so I would be happy with an indemnity policy.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]When you come to sell you can point this out at the start so there are no surprises.[/FONT]

jsarchitect

Hi Alex
Can you remember how long it took to get this deed variation? I would definitely prefer this route over the indemnity because it’ll secure us when, as you say, we come to resell

jsarchitect

Hi Tom

Thanks for the advice. Trouble with the indemnity is, if I have read about them correctly, if you tell a third party about the issue then it invalidates the policy. So we wouldn’t be able to negotiate with the freeholder or tell the buyer about the issue.

G_M

"deed plan".

Are you referring to the Plan on the lease?
Or the Plan on the Land Registry Title?

jsarchitect

Ps the vendor and their solicitor tried to get away with it by claiming the plan was correct. I guess I!!!8217;m lucky that as an architect and was able to clearly show with a drawing that they were basically lying through their noses.

jsarchitect

G_M wrote: »

"deed plan".

Are you referring to the Plan on the lease?
Or the Plan on the Land Registry Title?

Hi it’s the plan on the lease. The land registry title was also wrong but that’s been sorted!

G_M

So 'lease plan', not 'deed plan'.

Seems like a trivial issue that I'd ignore. Is the neighbour really going to pop in to use your bathroom (well, the 1m section that's 'his')? Or knock the wall down (which would anyway require freeholder consent) to extend into 'your' section??

If you go down the Deed of Variation route the timescale could be between 10 days assuming everyone responds, positively, immediately, and 10 months assuming they are are away on holiday, object, demand their own solicitors andd surveyors get involved......

Tom99

[FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]My daughter has exactly the same situation on her 1st flat, the bathrooms had been built a slightly different shape, we decided to ignore it and did not even get an indemnity. It was not mentioned when she sold.

[/FONT] [FONT=Verdana, sans-serif]The deed of variation will definitely not be cheap and the neighbour, even if they agree, may well not be prepared to pay, the freeholder definitely won't. It may take a couple of months to sort out if everyone is in a rush or it may never happen because the neighbour or the freeholder just won't engage.[/FONT]