Deed of Variation for error in lease

getmore4less

davidmcn wrote: »

Nope. A Review Period is "a period beginning on any Review Date..."
A Review Date is "each fifth anniversary of the First Review Date", not "the First Review Date and each fifth anniversary of the First Review Date"

So the first Review Period starts at year 30.

It's possible (or even probable) that they intended the rent to go up at year 25, but that ain't what it says.

Why does does any not include first?

davidmcn

getmore4less wrote: »

Why does does any not include first?

Because "First Review Date" is a defined term in its own right. There's no implication that Review Date includes First Review Date.

Jigglebiz

Quick update:
Our solicitor has sought advice from senior solicitors in the firm with extensive experience in leasehold, and they have come back and said that the lease should not require a DoV. The freeholder has still not responded to our requests for the DoV despite the undertaking having been made over a month ago. Our solicitor has gone back to the buyers solicitor saying this, and we are waiting for their response.
Our buyer continues to demand seemingly unnecessary enquiries (repeating those that have already been answered and is unhappy with my sols response on a few things).
I suspect they are waiting to find out what happens with Brexit.
Our solicitor has requested exchange but the buyer is still stalling.
Getting fed up and tempted to readvertise the property with another agent. If we can’t get a DoV from the freeholder and this buyer doesn’t accept the lease as it stands then surely we just need to find a new buyer.

G_M

I think you need to start advertising again. Or give buyer a deadline.


But there's no guarantee you won't get a repeat, so irrespecive of whether, or how, the lease is defective/ambiguous, getting it clarified via a DOV is only going to help in the future......

Jigglebiz

I’m just not sure a DoV will ever be issued - they were promised £1700 and the freeholder has evaded all contact with us. Doesn’t make sense!
Our solicitor looked up an old case from the same block of flats and found that the headlease is identical... there are hundreds of flats with these... they seem to change hands fairly regularly.
I am genuinely thinking that it is actually down to Brexit - buyer is an investor

Jigglebiz

Also - they are claiming it’s down to our solicitor not makng various requests that are genuinely completely unecessary and known to be time-consuming. If we found another buyer and got rid of this one, wouldn’t we still be liable for this EA’s fee? They have treated us so badly I would be particularly annoyed if they got that out of us.

G_M

Jigglebiz wrote: »

..... If we found another buyer and got rid of this one, wouldn’t we still be liable for this EA’s fee? They have treated us so badly I would be particularly annoyed if they got that out of us.

What exactly does your contract with the EA say?

getmore4less

Your current buyer is not willing and able to buy it.

eddddy

Jigglebiz wrote: »

Getting fed up and tempted to readvertise the property with another agent.

You'll almost certainly need to give written notice to your current EA before going to a new one - it's usually 2 or 4 weeks. Check your contract.

But you can ask your current EA to start marketing it again during the notice period.

Jigglebiz wrote: »

If we found another buyer and got rid of this one, wouldn’t we still be liable for this EA’s fee?

If there's a 'ready, willing and able buyer' clause in your contract, and you back out, it may cause some arguments with your EA.

I guess you can say to the EA that you're leaving the buyers to get on with the purchase (if they want to), but you're re-marketing in the meantime.

But if it's a genuine 'no sale, no fee' contract, with no mention of 'ready, willing and able buyer', that should be ok.

(And also check for a 'withdrawal fee' in the contract.)

Jigglebiz

Thanks all. I can’t see anything about ‘ready, willing and able’ in the contract, it only mentions getting up to exchange. I can see I would need to get written consent before appointing another EA. The stories we are being told just don’t stack up, apparently the buyer is rushing to get to exchange, getting fed up etc and then their solicitor puts in 11 new enquiries 5 months in? And is insistent about stuff my solicitor says are a genuine irrelevance.
Either it’s Brexit uncertainty - related (and hopeful that this will be clearer by the end of the week)
Or we’re being strung along for some other reason connected with the EA that I can’t quite fathom