Freehold /leasehold confusion - what to do

G_M

So when and what did you buy? I assume you bought something.....?

You either bought the lease to a house, which should be registered with your name on the Title.

Or you bought the freehold to a house, which should be registered with your name on the Title. Seems unlikely given everything you've said about wanting tobuy the freehold.

Or you are a tenant, eg Assured Shorthold Tenancy, paying rent and owning nothing.

Or you are a squatter or living there free under a licence.

Which? Or have I missed an option?

s67

I bought the house with my name on the title

G_M

s67 wrote: »

I bought the house woth my name on the title

You have not answered my question. Which of the options I suggested did you buy?


What Title is your name on?


Why did you say "So non of the owners uf the houses are listed."


What is Compton's 'interest' in the leasehold? Where is it registered? On your leasehold Title? On a Title in their name?

AdrianC

s67 wrote: »

I bought the house woth my name on the title

Let's go back a step.

You bought the lease to the house. That's like a very long rental and gives you the right to live in it for a fixed period, with full responsibility for maintenance etc.

Somebody else owns the freehold - the land itself. They lease that to you. You want to buy the freehold from them.

There may also be somebody else in the middle - maybe a headlease, where the freeholder leases the whole development, which is then leased on in individual plots.

There may be a contracted management company, dealing with everything on behalf of the freeholder.

Compton could be any one of those last three. Or maybe they're involved in some other way.

s67

Thanks for going back.
I bought a house. A leasehold house with a very long lease on it. After a few years living there comptons contact me asking for ground rent.. no problem i pay it to them £5 per year in £50 chunks to save paperwork. All is fine, then they write to me telling me to change insurance companies to their chosen company or pay an admin charge or use section 164 of commonhold .....2002. All is still fine.
10 years ago i decide to buy the freehold. Comptons tell me who owns it and i get a price and fees and surveys costed and decide its not worth it.
I am now a richer man in both money and love so i decide to buy the freehold again. I firstly purchase the title register and title plan (£6)and fish out my old e mails from 10 years ago. I contact comptons to ask them who the freeholder is and they tell me no-one as it is not registered. However they will sell me their interest in the lease.
I contact the solicitor of the owners of the freehold from my old e mails and he tells me they would sell but not right now as it is the middle of being registered.
I now ask out of interest for comptons to give me a quote to buy their interest in the lease ( whatever that means). Today they send me a quote for £700 . The letter says" thank you for contacting us to purchase the leasehold to your property from ourselves including costs and land registry fees."

I thought they were an agent for the freeholder collecting rent but they have somehow purchased in 2008 The lease to a number of plots on which i own a house.
I bought the house in 2002.

Maybe they own the headlease for the whole block (even numbers) and I own a lease on my plot?

So can i buy the freehold which then makes compton redundant. Can i charge them rent.

Should i buy the comptons interest for £700.

In 2008 why wasnt I told about the creation/sale of a headlease. When I purchased the house there was no mention of this tiered lease arrangement.

s67

this is what comptons web site says abut buying the leasehold interest

Buying our Leasehold Interest

On occasions, the interest which we own is leasehold and not freehold. This means that we collect ground rent from you but we ourselves have to pay ground rent to our landlord (usually the freeholder). If you buy our leasehold interest, you will then be bound by the covenants in the head lease, rather than your existing lease. However, you will not have to pay ground rent, as it will be a condition of your purchase of our interest that you will be exonerated from paying rent that would otherwise be payable to our landlord. We will continue to pay all the head rent; this has been allowed for in the purchase price we quote you. If we buy the freehold at a later date, we will be prepared to transfer it to you for a nominal sum.

If you do wish to purchase our leasehold interest, the process of buying and method of payment are the same as set out above for buying a freehold interest.

G_M

s67 wrote: »

this is what comptons web site says abut buying the leasehold interest

Buying our Leasehold Interest

On occasions, the interest which we own is leasehold and not freehold. This means that we collect ground rent from you but we ourselves have to pay ground rent to our landlord (usually the freeholder). If you buy our leasehold interest, you will then be bound by the covenants in the head lease, rather than your existing lease. However, you will not have to pay ground rent, as it will be a condition of your purchase of our interest that you will be exonerated from paying rent that would otherwise be payable to our landlord. We will continue to pay all the head rent; this has been allowed for in the purchase price we quote you. If we buy the freehold at a later date, we will be prepared to transfer it to you for a nominal sum.

If you do wish to purchase our leasehold interest, the process of buying and method of payment are the same as set out above for buying a freehold interest.

So yes - clearly Compton's own a Head lease and you own a sub lease. A N Other owns the freehold.

You therefore have the possibility of buying either the freehold (from A N Other once it has been registered), or the Head Lease (from Comptons).

s67

Ok but would buying the freehold mean comptons then need to pay me ground rent?
Also it says If we buy the freehold at a later date, I assume they can only buy this if I refuse to buy it?

G_M

s67 wrote: »

Ok but would buying the freehold mean comptons then need to pay me ground rent?
Also it says If we buy the freehold at a later date, I assume they can only buy this if I refuse to buy it?

"we ourselves have to pay ground rent to our landlord (usually the freeholder)"


If you buy the freehold, they could buy it from you at a leter date, if you wanted to sell.
If you don't buy the freehold, they could buy it from the current freeholder, if they wanted to sell.