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Freeholder woes - advice please!
taylorguy2016
Posts: 6 Forumite
So I'll try and keep this as short as possible;
Bought a leasehold flat back in October 2016, solicitor mentioned at the time about a clause in the lease which says the ground rent can double every 10 years. He just said, something to be aware of, but because the ground rent is £250 a year and due to double in 2021 we weren't too concerned as we were only planning on keeping the flat for 4 years.
2 years later, we became aware of it now causing major problems for people wanting to sell their flats, and I even spoke to the same solicitor who said if I was buying the property now he would have told me not to buy it without changing the lease in some way. The freehold is currently owned by a small group of landlords who are offering us a share in their company which owns the FH, for a small sum of 11.5k with a kind offer of a 15% discount if we buy it within 14 days! Like we just have that kind of money sitting around.
Spoken to the leasehold advisory service who said the only option really is to sue our solicitor as he should have made you aware of the significance of this clause.
Only a few landlords to my knowledge have bought the shares, and the company send me emails from time to time warning me the price will increase if I don't buy it now, and it won't be available again until November 2018 when the price will increase. I replied to ask what is so significant about that date but they did not come back to me.
Does anyone have any advice on what options I might have? Tribunal? Waiting to see if the government's review in October goes in our favour? In principal I am not against buying a share of the freehold, but not at that cost, and I also don't like feeling like I am being bullied into buying it, especially when they are neighbours!
Bought a leasehold flat back in October 2016, solicitor mentioned at the time about a clause in the lease which says the ground rent can double every 10 years. He just said, something to be aware of, but because the ground rent is £250 a year and due to double in 2021 we weren't too concerned as we were only planning on keeping the flat for 4 years.
2 years later, we became aware of it now causing major problems for people wanting to sell their flats, and I even spoke to the same solicitor who said if I was buying the property now he would have told me not to buy it without changing the lease in some way. The freehold is currently owned by a small group of landlords who are offering us a share in their company which owns the FH, for a small sum of 11.5k with a kind offer of a 15% discount if we buy it within 14 days! Like we just have that kind of money sitting around.
Spoken to the leasehold advisory service who said the only option really is to sue our solicitor as he should have made you aware of the significance of this clause.
Only a few landlords to my knowledge have bought the shares, and the company send me emails from time to time warning me the price will increase if I don't buy it now, and it won't be available again until November 2018 when the price will increase. I replied to ask what is so significant about that date but they did not come back to me.
Does anyone have any advice on what options I might have? Tribunal? Waiting to see if the government's review in October goes in our favour? In principal I am not against buying a share of the freehold, but not at that cost, and I also don't like feeling like I am being bullied into buying it, especially when they are neighbours!
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