Purchasing a Leasehold Property

loonywitch

Hi

We’re in the process of selling and purchasing - the property we’re purchasing is a leasehold with a small fee of £12.60 per annum. The lease has over 800 years remaining and out solicitor confirmed there were no immediate concerns with the leasehold agreement.

We are no in a position where we can proceed with our sale, and the vendors of the property we are purchasing are keen to complete ASAP due to their new property not having a chain.

I’ve been chasing our solicitor and the estate agents for days regarding the outstanding responses from the vendors’ solicitors. This morning I was advised they are holding on sending the responses as they’re waiting for a response from the freeholder.

Here lies the issue. We’ve already been advised that the freeholder has not issued any invoice for a few years...I’m guessing there’s every chance the freeholder will be deemed absent. I’ve read there are ways and means around this, but I can’t seem to find any indication on timescales and I’m keen to know how long of a delay this will cause? Has anyone any experience with this?

I emailed the solicitor this morning to advise of this and ask but the response I received was it had been noted on our file. I’ll of course go back and push for an answer - even if it’s a case of being asked how long a piece of string is! But for the time being, I’m quite impatient so welcome any advice.

Thanks!

Tridentmorph

Unfortunately freeholders are notoriously slow usually to respond to solicitor enquiries and unfortunately it is a "how long bit of string" question. Not much can be done to chase up either to be fair barring regular phone calls.
You may be able to indemnify against any issues via the solicitor (basically buy an insurance policy) depending on what is outstanding which can be done in 24 hours if buyers, sellers and mortgage company agree.

loonywitch

That’s good to know! I assume since the freeholder has no responsibility on the actual building that this shouldn’t be an issue. I’m more concerned around them dragging this out. I’m guessing it’s just a case of having shown a reasonable amount of effort has been made to get in contact with the freeholder?

G_M

loonywitch wrote: »

........the vendors of the property we are purchasing are keen to complete ASAP due to their new property not having a chain.



..... outstanding responses from the vendors’ solicitors. This morning I was advised they are holding on sending the responses as they’re waiting for a response from the freeholder.

Well why not get the vendors, via their estate agent, to chase their freeholder?


Since they (the vendors) are in a hurry, that will make clear to them where the delay lies, plus might just get the freeholder to respond.


if the freeholder IS absent, you need to consider what consequences that might have for you down the line.

loonywitch

I believe they are chasing.

I’m sure the solicitor will go through the consequences with us but I’m guessing the insurance you have to take out would cover these?