Just found out house we're buying is leasehold. Help!

hazyjo

Smodlet wrote: »

Leasehold is more trouble than it is worth, imho, and the extra you pay for a freehold property you could make back over time by not having to pay service charges/other people's repair costs. Just my view.

Many new build estates will have a service charge - even if they do own the freehold to their house. You may find there is still a SC. I had a service charge on a FH house which was built in the early 2000s.

Prinzilla wrote: »

Tbh I'm more annoyed we've paid the mortgage brokers and the solicitors as if we'd have known we wouldn't have put an offer in and now if we withdraw we'll lose it all. All because the vendor obviously didn't understand a question :mad:

Hate to say it, but if I was buying a new-ish house, one of the first things I would be checking would be if it was FH as so many are LH (which I'd not buy). An expensive lesson, but at least you've found out now giving you options still.


If there's enough equity in it, the seller can obtain the FH as part of the sale. They don't have to spend money on it in advance of any sale.

Prinzilla

hazyjo wrote: »

Many new build estates will have a service charge - even if they do own the freehold to their house. You may find there is still a SC. I had a service charge on a FH house which was built in the early 2000s.






Hate to say it, but if I was buying a new-ish house, one of the first things I would be checking would be if it was FH as so many are LH (which I'd not buy). An expensive lesson, but at least you've found out now giving you options still.


If there's enough equity in it, the seller can obtain the FH as part of the sale. They don't have to spend money on it in advance of any sale.

We asked the vendor and estate agents, they both said it was freehold before we put the offer in. It was actually one of the first questions I asked after hearing so much about leaseholds. I wasn't aware of any other way we could check before moving forward. Thanks for the suggestion, I'll ask if she would be willing to do that.

victoriavictorious

I'm amazed that the EA and vendor were both unaware it was leasehold!
Leasehold houses come in many different 'flavours' and situations but they are often not easy to sell on.
A few years ago we owned an attractive leasehold 'character' house built in 1912, in a town where the majority of houses have always been leasehold. There were no service or maintenance charges to pay, only £10 per year ground rent. Still, it took almost a year to sell.
I wouldnt buy one again.

da_rule

Are you paying full market value for 100% of the property or are you paying less based on it being an !!!8216;affordable house!!!8217;?

eidand

I wouldn't dismiss it so quickly.

My own house was leasehold and ex-council, difference being that I was actually aware of it. We got in touch with the council and asked them how much would it cost, they asked for about 800 pounds which I was happy to pay, job done. We now have a freehold property.

Might be worth seeing how much this would cost you, before you decide to get out.

Prinzilla

Da_rule We!!!8217;re paying the asking price for 100% of the property. It was advertised as 50% shared ownership but we enquired about buying 100% and they agreed.

Prinzilla

I called the EA back and asked him to enquire about buying the lease, either us directly or the vendor before we complete.
The facts of it are we didnt want to buy a house with a lease. While I believe it wasnt an intentional mistake we never would have gone ahead had we been told the correct information when I asked. While the money we’ve already paid out isnt a lot in the scheme of things I still refuse to lose money because the vendor was ‘confused’! If needs be we’ll withdraw and recover the money from her, I know it sounds harsh but I don’t see any other option if we cant get the freehold

muz3562

I would certainly be a bit miffed that the EA did not know it was leasehold . The actual vendor themselves is forgivable to some extent especially if they had shared ownership.


What has your solicitor said beyond it being more complicated because it is a LH ? Have they said anything about the length of the lease , the ground rent and provisions for increasing it ?

I would be grilling my solicitor daily after all that is what you are paying them for and then make a decision to either walk or lower my offer on the basis of it being a LH .



Bearing in mind the future position you are going to be in if or when you decide to sell it .

Prinzilla wrote: »

While the money we've already paid out isnt a lot in the scheme of things I still refuse to lose money because the vendor was 'confused'! If needs be we'll withdraw and recover the money from her, I know it sounds harsh but I don't see any other option if we cant get the freehold

Just to moderate your expectations , you are going to struggle with that .Especially bearing in mind you earlier mentioned it does not look like she has much capital .

Prinzilla

The EA pulled the file while I was on the phone and said she!!!8217;d stated it was freehold. They obviously didn!!!8217;t check, I!!!8217;m not sure if they!!!8217;re meant to?

The solicitor didn!!!8217;t say anything else, I emailed her back and said we weren!!!8217;t aware of it being a leasehold. I asked all the above questions but didn!!!8217;t get a reply.

The house does need some work so we went as low as we could, they!!!8217;d already lowered the price a couple of times before we viewed it and the plan was to do it up and sell it on in a few years but I think we!!!8217;d struggle to do that if it!!!8217;s a LH. When we asked why it had been lowered so much the vendor said she just wanted a quick sale for personal reasons (she did explain but I don!!!8217;t think it!!!8217;s appropriate to put it here)

I!!!8217;m just annoyed we!!!8217;re so far in and only finding this out now when I specifically asked, if we walk away and don!!!8217;t get the money back then so be it but I!!!8217;d have to try!!!55358;!!!56631;!!!55356;!!!57341;!!!8205;!!!9792;!!!65039;

muz3562

The EA is always going to hide behind a clause which says any information they give is indicative only and not to be relied upon . Its wrong that they can make such a blatant mistake but ultimately they are not legally qualified to be ascertaining the exact interest in the property is that is what a conveyancer does . This is only like finding out after a survey that the EA's "well maintained property" actually has dry rot , substantial damp or some other massive structural issue or finding out during conveyancing that there is bad title or some other issue raised by local searches .



I would speak to the solicitor again tomorrow , press them for answers to questions about the lease if they know its a leasehold they should have asked for a copy of the lease .



I know the price has been lowered already , but I would speak to the agent letting them know its a LH and that this is going to massively reduce the selling potential . Because of this you are now forced to reconsider the offer .


Has anybody spoken to the mortgage lender about the fact that it is a Leasehold not a freehold as would have been included in the original application . This could also put a spanner in the works .