SOS Adverse possesion of Freehold on my leasehold home

DoaM

molerat wrote: »

What does your lease state re increases in ground rent and other charges ?

Precisely what crossed my mind too ... the person seeking possession of the freehold may think there's a mechanism to further monetise the ground rent charges.

ShatteredDad

molerat wrote: »

What does your lease state re increases in ground rent and other charges ?

I don't have it to hand but I read as much as I could last night and it's been £11 since the lease was granted in the 60's and it's still £11 today. It didn't mention any increases, I think it did mention some expectations to contribute to things that were not covered by the local authority and I would assume this to mean things like shared drains etc?

As far as I can tell the ground rent cannot increase.

I was wondering about this to be honest because clearly £11 in the 60's was worth considerably more than £11 today!

moneyistooshorttomention

Have you tried to find out what these "other things" are that the local authority should pay for/but may not?

EDIT; Look up the Nimbus Maps website - and join at the "free membership" level. It should be clearer on there, for instance, just who owns the roads (ie it seems to be the rule of thumb that if ownership is "blank" then the road is public sector ownership/not a problem). I'm saying that because I was surprised to find that a bit of road someone was trying to make out they own is in fact in public ownership - so you never know...

ShatteredDad

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Have you tried to find out what these "other things" are that the local authority should pay for/but may not?

I'm going to have to reference the document when I get home from work later today, to be sure. But, from what I read through last night it seemed quite a standard thing to be honest and didn't concern me much at the time of reading.

The lease looks like a pretty standard old document to be honest.

I'm stressing about this now. :eek:

davidmcn

moneyistooshorttomention wrote: »

Look up the Nimbus Maps website - and join at the "free membership" level. It should be clearer on there, for instance, just who owns the roads (ie it seems to be the rule of thumb that if ownership is "blank" then the road is public sector ownership/not a problem).

Or ownership is unregistered, which appears to (currently) be the case with the freehold here. OP's solicitor should have flagged up if the road wasn't adopted anyway.

moneyistooshorttomention

davidmcn wrote: »

Or ownership is unregistered, which appears to (currently) be the case with the freehold here. OP's solicitor should have flagged up if the road wasn't adopted anyway.

Presumably the same would apply to privately-owned roads as to houses though?

I know I can spot a "U" there for unregistered on houses round here that I believe haven't swopped hands for decades.

eddddy

ShatteredDad wrote: »

The other question is why do these people even bother going to great lengths for a freehold to land that properties with a thousand year lease sit on. She collects the grand total of about £200 a year from the properties on my plot and I don't even see that covers the solicitor fees she must have to pay.

Yes - in your position, this is the thing that might worry me.

Does this person have a money-making scheme in mind - like inspecting all the leasehold properties for unauthorised alterations - and then demanding a fee for retrospective consent?


On the plus side, if you ever decide to buy your freehold, you will know exactly who your freeholder is, which will make the process easier and cheaper.

ShatteredDad

I have just been on nimbus, the road is blank and looks just like surrounding roads so I assume that is owned by the local authority? My house and the rest of the houses next to mine are blank and I'm not able to click on the 'polygon' like I am other plots close by which show in red and give you a little information about the deed holder when you click on it. Confusing me now this!

ShatteredDad

eddddy wrote: »

Yes - in your position, this is the thing that might worry me.

Does this person have a money-making scheme in mind - like inspecting all the leasehold properties for unauthorised alterations - and then demanding a fee for retrospective consent?


On the plus side, if you ever decide to buy your freehold, you will know exactly who your freeholder is, which will make the process easier and cheaper.

the good news (I hope) for me in this regard is that as far as I can tell no alterations have been made, and I also have an indemnity policy which would appear to cover me in this kind of event which was purchased by the seller when we bought the property...

davidmcn

ShatteredDad wrote: »

I have just been on nimbus, the road is blank and looks just like surrounding roads so I assume that is owned by the local authority? My house and the rest of the houses next to mine are blank and I'm not able to click on the 'polygon' like I am other plots close by which show in red and give you a little information about the deed holder when you click on it. Confusing me now this!

It's probably more useful to check the local authority's website and see if that has a list (or map) of roads they maintain - in any event, just because somebody has title to a road doesn't necessarily mean that the council doesn't maintain the surface. As I said, it would have been checked when you bought anyway.