Lease for a flat is a THIRD of what I was told

yellowk

Hi everyone,

I'm in the middle of buying a flat with a mortgage and currently at a roadblock by the difference in lease length I've been told.

I found a flat and was told by the Estate agent in an email that 'the owner bought a share of the freehold along with the other residents and the lease was renewed to 125 years as of last year' (so 124 years remaining this year). So i made an offer, got a survey, got a mortgage and off we go...

I've now received information from my solicitor that the lease has in fact 51 years left and is just a leasehold.

Naturally, I'm not happy that the lease is now about a third of what I had expected and I don't know what to do.

I've asked the estate agent and solicitor to look into this but I would really love some advice and information on why this might have happened and what I can do next:

- What is the likely reason the information was so wrong?
- Are Estate agents meant to do checks on this before selling?
- What is the likely cost for the seller to extend and how long could this take?
- With such a short lease - should I walk away, or carry on?

Any help would be appreciated or if anyone else has been in a similar situation. What's my best course of action if it turns out the lease is only 51 years?

Thank you in advance!

epinjy

yellowk wrote: »

- Are Estate agents meant to do checks on this before selling?
- With such a short lease - should I walk away, or carry on?

My best guess would be that estate agents probably don't check and just go off what they are told by the seller.

You will struggle to get a mortgage if 51 years left on the lease, so that will limit your options.

G_M

yellowk wrote: »

- What is the likely reason the information was so wrong? vendor mis-infomed the EA
- Are Estate agents meant to do checks on this before selling? No
- What is the likely cost for the seller to extend and how long could this take? Too long
- With such a short lease - should I walk away, or carry on? Walk away

I've now received information from my solicitor that the lease has in fact 51 years left and is just a leasehold.

well that's the information you rely on.

[Deleted User]

Is it possible the lease extension was done by the vendor but hasnt been updated on the documents received by your solicitor?

If it is 51 years then dont buy ut unless you are getting lease extension done at same time. If its just fixing admin errors from last year it shouldnt take too long, if its a brand new lease extension then be prepared for a 6 month transaction at least

mjm3346

The easiest thing is walk away - presumably the price you offered took account of the far longer lease and having a share of the freehold - now you know otherwise I assume any offer would have been much much lower. If something as basic as this is wrong what else might be lurking, perhaps a very large maintenance bill due next year etc.

Tom99

Before you give up, download the freehold title for £3 and check who owns it and when it was last sold.
Ask your solicitor to stop all work on this property then go back to the EA and ask them to find out what is going on. Even if the register had not yet been updated you would have expected that information to be passed to your solicitor by the sellers solicitor along with the title information.

AdrianC

At 51yrs, the place is unmortgageable, so you aren't buying it unless and until this is sorted out.

It may be a simple error - perhaps the extension is still going through. Or perhaps the vendor is going to use some of the sale money to complete the extension in a linked transaction, so you will be buying an extended lease.

Remember, if you buy a flat with share of freehold, you're buying two different things at the same time - a leasehold flat, and one of X voting rights for the freehold...

ACG

You will probably find your mortgage lender will not allow you to complete, typically the lease needs to be around 70-80 years, there are exceptions.

- What is the likely reason the information was so wrong? - who knows.
- Are Estate agents meant to do checks on this before selling? - They should do, but it is not compulsory.
- What is the likely cost for the seller to extend and how long could this take? - It can vary massively, you need to get the vendor to enquire.
- With such a short lease - should I walk away, or carry on? - If you are reliant on a mortgage you will struggle to carry on. Clearly there is going to be a different in valuation from a 50 year lease to a 120 year lease, so if you are able to carry on, you are going to need to have the valuation re-assessed.

Kyresa

Common sense approach:

If the Freehold title hasn't been updated correctly with this apparent updated lease, then ask YOUR solicitor to ask THEIR solicitor for a signed copy of the renewed lease and proof of land registry registration of said renewal. Sometimes old leases are closed and newer ones put under different title numbers.

Once the sellers solicitors have given you a definitive answe then you will know how you feel about proceeding.

Catti

The new Lease would be registered under a different title and it can take some months to register. Your solicitor can do an application search on the Portal to see if it is pending.