Leasehold house sale dragging on

anon100

My spouse began the sale of her leasehold house to a close family member in November but we still don't have a date for completion/exchange of contracts even though the buyer's mortgage offer expires at the end of the month. Both sets of solicitors seem to be at loggerheads over what is required or even whether to do the conversion from leasehold to freehold before or after the sale. The house was purchased on a Help-to-Buy scheme and according to the terms that were agreed upon purchase, the freehold is owned by the local housing trust and is to be purchased by the buyer. My spouse was always able to sell the leasehold (which would then be converted to freehold by the buyer) but would have to pay back a larger percentage of the discount off the purchase price the sooner she sold the house within the first 5 years (which have now elapsed).

My spouse's solicitor seems unhelpful at best, rarely pushing ahead with proceedings unless prompted and typically not bothering to call back even after promising to do so. The relative is a first-time buyer and my spouse is a first-time seller so we don't really have an idea of how long these things should normally take and the deadline is causing all of us untold amounts of stress. I appreciate Covid has slowed things down but it's our belief that this should have been resolved long before lockdown.

My spouse has documented all emails etc in preparation for a complaint to the partners but is there anything further we can do to expedite the process and get this over the line first other than contacting the solicitor daily to chase things up? Do we have any kind of recourse other than to suck it up and hope for the best?

steampowered

At the start of your post, you say the solicitors are at "loggerheads". If there is a disagreement about how to proceed, that needs to be resolved one way or another - just chasing won't resolve it. 

What is the issue? If the property needs to be converted into freehold don't you need consent from the local housing trust for that? Or if you are saying the property is to be sold as leasehold, doesn't your relative need to understand that and give an instruction to her solicitor to proceed?

eddddy

You need to find out exactly what the problem is, and how the parties want it resolved.

You can't really complain that you want something done, when you don't know what it is that you want done.

You say that the solicitors are at 'loggerheads' - what is each solicitor asking for? And what is the buyer asking for?

anon100

The housing association sent out a contract for the buyer to buy the freehold from them just before lockdown began. 
The buyer's solicitors are asking for proof that the housing trust are happy to transfer the leasehold into the buyer's name, my spouse's solicitors are just saying "Don't worry" and not advising what they need. My spouse has been trying to ascertain what her solicitor needs to break the loggerhead but is not being told anything at all. Before lockdown began my spouse wrote a complaint to their solicitor and asked for the purchase be completed within a six week timeframe from writing the complaint. The deadline ended on 30th March and now we are nearly a month later and seem to be no further forward. It was only after this initial complaint that my spouse's solicitors picked up the phone to the housing trust's solicitors to find out what was needed to move this purchase forward. They have known about the sitation from before being hired, the situation was reiterated in November when the process should have started and my spouse received a call from the solicitor a month later advising they had just been told of the situation. From our perspective nothing was done by my spouse's solicitor between November and February, when this was first raised. 

eddddy

anon100 said:

The buyer's solicitors are asking for proof that the housing trust are happy to transfer the leasehold into the buyer's name, my spouse's solicitors are just saying "Don't worry" and not advising what they need. 

So has the Housing Trust agreed that they are happy to do this?

If not, your spouse needs to chase the Housing Trust.

If, for example, the Housing Trust hasn't replied, that wouldn't be your solicitors fault. It's the Housing Trust's fault.

(A solicitor can't force somebody at the Housing Trust to reply to their letter.)


Edit to add...
Similarly, if the Housing Trust replies "No", that's not the solicitor's fault either.

In that case, your spouse would have to decide what to do instead.

davidmcn

anon100 said:

my spouse wrote a complaint to their solicitor and asked for the purchase be completed within a six week timeframe from writing the complaint. 

Ok, it sounds like your spouse doesn't understand that they (and their solicitors) cannot unilaterally make the transaction happen within any particular period. It requires the cooperation of the other parties too.

anon100

The housing trust have sent the contract to say they are happy to sell the freehold to the purchaser, but then they closed due to COVID. My spouse's solicitor should have asked in November if they were happy to transfer the leasehold but never did. What we don't understand is if the housing trust are happy to sell the freehold, and have a contract created for it, to the purchaser, then why do the purchaser's solicitors need confirmation that the housing trust are happy for the leasehold to be transferred?

eddddy

anon100 said:

What we don't understand is if the housing trust are happy to sell the freehold, and have a contract created for it, to the purchaser, then why do the purchaser's solicitors need confirmation that the housing trust are happy for the leasehold to be transferred?

So the purchaser should ask their solicitor "why do you need confirmation that the housing trust are happy for the leasehold to be transferred?"

I suspect that it's a term in your spouse's lease, which your spouse agreed to when buying the property. (It does seem a bit unusual, but perhaps that's because the freeholder is a Housing Trust.)

If the Housing Trust hasn't provided the confirmation, your spouse should be chasing the Housing Trust to provide this.