Leasehold houses - questions to ask

mollie78

Hi, we live in an area with a lot of leasehold houses, and although I'd much prefer to buy freehold I wouldn't rule it out for the right house. What questions should I be asking (other than the obvious of lease length / annual fees)? I know we can't purchase the freehold ourselves until after we've been there two years but would the vendors be able to obtain a price for purchasing it so we have a rough idea of costs?

Bass_9

Yep, I'd say those are the main things.
The vendors can find out the cost of purchasing if you're interested.

Many people would not touch leasehold, and many people on here may try to put you off, but there's no need to be scared off. Some older leasehold houses will have a 1000 year lease and a peppercorn rent, they may as well be freehold tbh.

One thing I would be very wary of is a new build leasehold. They have had bad press over the last couple of years and with good reason.

Of course, should you have an offer accepted on a leasehold house, just make sure your solicitor confirms the details with you before you commit to a sale (i.e. exchange) and don't assume what the vendor says is 100% correct.

eddddy

mollie78 wrote: »

I know we can't purchase the lease ourselves until after we've been there two years but would the vendors be able to obtain a price for purchasing it so we have a rough idea of costs?

I guess you mean purchase the freehold (after 2 years).

If you want to buy the freehold straightaway, you can ask the current owner to start the process, and then let you complete it.

(...assuming the current owner has owned the house for 2 years.)

eddddy

mollie78 wrote: »

we live in an area with a lot of leasehold houses,

... also do you mean older houses with leases that were originally 999 years, with ground rents of £10 or £20 per year?

Or modern houses on recent developments, perhaps with high ground rents?

mollie78

Sorry yes I meant purchase the freehold. I figured doing this would make any future alterations to the house easier / easier to sell in future. We're looking at 15-20 ish year old properties and round here (Sheffield) a lot seem to be leasehold - I'm not from here originally but locals don't seem to be put off - lots of friends live in leasehold houses and I've been keeping an eye on the market and these types of properties seem to sell just as quickly as freehold. Would obviously much prefer freehold though!

mollie78

Estates that were built around 15-20 years ago. From what I've asked so far they seem to have 125 year leases (originally) with ground rent of £100ish per year.