Freehold charges cost us our dream home

jaybeetoo

"To be honest we were absolutely devastated by it. You would never buy a house without being able to sell it again".

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50519066

boo_star

"Basically we weren't told by our solicitor or by our estate agents what an estate rentcharge actually meant in terms of the law"

Sounds like they have an issue with their solicitor, not the developer.

AdrianC

boo_star wrote: »

Sounds like they have an issue with their solicitor, not the developer.

Any bets on how they found the solicitor?

Oh, and...

"We bought our house back in July 2016 and we were informed by the estate agent there'd be a service charge which, coming from London, we weren't worried about,"

So they did know about it, it's just that they didn't think it was an issue, so they didn't bother to look too deeply. Of course, back then, it wasn't generally regarded as an issue...

RelievedSheff

I'm not sure what their complaint is.

They were told there was a management charge, they have presumably paid that management charge since 2016 without complaint and only decide it is a problem now because one person cant get a mortgage to buy their house from a provider.

Why did this buyer not try another mortgage provider rather than pull out of the sale?

Flugelhorn

RelievedSheff wrote: »

Why did this buyer not try another mortgage provider rather than pull out of the sale?

suppose some people panic when they hear that one lender won't lend them the money and assume that this will be the case for all - or maybe they think it is going to be a problem that accelerates to include many more lenders. only one side of the story.

Flugelhorn

AdrianC wrote: »

So they did know about it, it's just that they didn't think it was an issue, so they didn't bother to look too deeply. Of course, back then, it wasn't generally regarded as an issue...

Bit like the one we were looking at - properties reselling well apparently!
Not sure that many appreciate the significance of the management company being listed as having a restriction on the land registry for the house.

G_M

On Radio 4's Moneybox today:


https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m000bl2k

eidand

I don't understand how some people buy houses without having a clue what they are signing. Do your own homework and never rely just on a solicitor.

davidmcn

AdrianC wrote: »

"We bought our house back in July 2016 and we were informed by the estate agent there'd be a service charge which, coming from London, we weren't worried about,"

Because people from London have more money than sense?

daveyjp

davidmcn wrote: »

Because people from London have more money than sense?

More likely they were in a flat where service charges are expected and regulated.

A rent charge is however not a service charge and that's where the problems start as they aren't regulated at all, apart from expensive court proceedings.

The BBC piece also states a developer wouldn't agree to terms being changed. Thats is alarm bells ringing time too.

gary83

daveyjp wrote: »

More likely they were in a flat where service charges are expected and regulated.

A rent charge is however not a service charge and that's where the problems start as they aren't regulated at all, apart from expensive court proceedings.

The BBC piece also states a developer wouldn't agree to terms being changed. Thats is alarm bells ringing time too.

Why would the developer agree to the terms being changed? What’s in it for them to change the terms for this one house on the estate? I don’t think that sounds alarm bells.

This couple agreed to the management charge when they bought their property, since then they have been quite happily paying for the upkeep of the communal areas (because they’d moved from London & assumed everyone, everywhere did) it’s only when they’ve come to sell the property that they’ve finally realised they should have done some research & understood the contract they agreed when they originally bought the property. It isn’t news, despite their best sad faces, at best the only positive outcome is perhaps it might encourage people to read contracts & understand what they’re agreeing to.