Unable to sell leasehold property

trex227

Socajam said:

I think that you cannot put all the blame on the solicitor, yes they should have advised against buying a low leasehold property.
What I find is that people are in such a hurry and hungry to get on the property market that they fail to do the necessary research and put too much faith in solicitors to do all the work.

I think yes it’s true buyers should make sure they are aware and understand what they are buying but the solicitor, as a professional being paid to provide advice, should be flagging this to the client. Especially when it’s a lease below 80 years so marriage value applies.

I’ve known a lot of solicitors/conveyancers (having worked at 2 firms and being married to one) and I think all of them would have considered a lease below 80 years a major issue to make sure the client is aware of and understands the implications. Let alone a shared ownership lease where 50% is the maximum share permitted so the lease doesn’t allow for extension!

As eddddy says I don’t think litigation is the way to go at this stage- it’s expensive with no guarantee of success. Make a complaint to the firm that acted for you in the first instance. Call/email asking for their complaints procedure then put in writing your complaint. Maybe as part of dealing with the complaint they will find some way to get the lease extended (though I would expect you would have to pay the premium etc).

rosie222285

Ok thank you 

Snuggles

OP I wish you luck and please keep us updated with how you get on. I'm particularly interested as I also live in a shared equity property where the lease does not allow me to staircase to buy the property outright. I'm fortunate in that there is still over 100 years left on the lease, however these properties are still very difficult to sell in this area. An identical neighbouring property was on the market for SEVEN years before it eventually sold. 

rosie222285

Ok I shall let you know as I get any news 

annie345

Hi,
I was hoping you could give me an update how things panned out? Thanks.

babyblade41

I went through all that only to find it was nearly 2 years ago !!

user1977

annie345 said:

Hi,
I was hoping you could give me an update how things panned out? Thanks.

If you want advice from the forum, you'd be best to start your own thread rather than bump one from two years ago (the OP hasn't even logged into the site since then).

rosie222285

Hi All Sorry for delay, I was able to sell in the end after losing 4 buyers but it only completed late last year. It took 2 years 4 months in the end to complete. I had to complete a lease extension and the title hadnt been registered by the council so also had to get that done in order to get it to completion. 

GDB2222

rosie222285 said:

Hi All Sorry for delay, I was able to sell in the end after losing 4 buyers but it only completed late last year. It took 2 years 4 months in the end to complete. I had to complete a lease extension and the title hadnt been registered by the council so also had to get that done in order to get it to completion. 

Did you have to buy the other 50%?

rosie222285

No, it was in a protected parish so were restricted to only having 50% as was part of the council’s low cost housing stock as well