Buying freehold after purchase

t.g.jones43

Hi all
We would like to buy a leasehold property and have been told it would cost £12k to buy the freehold, which we really want to do. But the estate agent says we can only purchase the freehold after buying the property, it is not possible to do both at the same time. I am concerned that we buy the property and then find that the cost to buy the freehold is much more than £12k, but I don't know whether that is a valid concern or that I'm just being paranoid after reading stories online about these companies. The one that owns the freehold is Landmark Collections, which seem to get a lot of bad feedback.
Has anyone got any advice they could offer?
Thank you.

Slithery

House or flat?

t.g.jones43

It is a house.

eidand

In your place, I would ask the vendor to sort it out. That or walk away.

eddddy

If the freeholder can get their act together quickly and is cooperative - you could ask your solicitor to do a simultaneous exchange of contracts for the leasehold and the freehold.

i.e. You exchange contracts with the leaseholder to buy the lease, and with the freeholder to buy the freehold at the same time.

With a simultaneous exchange, your solicitor will make sure you don't end up with just one, instead of both.

hazyjo

How many years left on the lease?

princeofpounds

Answers in bold

t.g.jones43 said:

Hi all
We would like to buy a leasehold property and have been told it would cost £12k to buy the freehold, which we really want to do. You should check this figure. If the lease is over 80 years remaining, you can use an online calculator to get a reasonable estimate of the price if you were to enfranchise (buy the leasehold) through the statutory process.

But the estate agent says we can only purchase the freehold after buying the property, it is not possible to do both at the same time. It is possible to do both at the same time, but only if the leaseholder (your vendor) already owns the freehold. It seems they don't. Given that, there are two potential ways forward:
1) You buy the leasehold, and then after two years have passed and you become eligible for the statutory enfranchisement process, you buy the freehold. 
Or,
2) Assuming the vendor has owned the leasehold for over two years, they organise the purchase of the freehold and transfer it to you as part of the sale process.

Obviously the price you pay for the property should be different in either circumstance.

I am concerned that we buy the property and then find that the cost to buy the freehold is much more than £12k, but I don't know whether that is a valid concern or that I'm just being paranoid after reading stories online about these companies. The freeholder can ask whatever they want for the freehold, it's just a negotiation. But ultimately you can do it via the statutory process that defines a price, so either they come down to a similar figure (slightly higher for convenience perhaps) or you do it via that process.

The one that owns the freehold is Landmark Collections, which seem to get a lot of bad feedback.
Has anyone got any advice they could offer?

Visit lease-advice.org and read about enfranchisement to educate yourself.

There are some other eligibility criteria for buying the freehold the property will need to meet, but it will probably be ok given it's a single house.

You also need to work out if there is any point in buying the freehold. If the lease is very long, the ground rent very low, and there are no important covenants or other terms... there isn't necessarily much point in doing so.