is the freeholder responsible for paying for repairs needed before i buy a lease?

elaneh

hi everyone I would be so grateful if anyone can help me. for disability reasons i need to move from my lovely house into a flat to lose the walk up and down stairs.  I have found a lovely flat but it has major works needed to the flat (damp in all rooms that needs to be dealt with as it is sub basement and all the external timber joinery needs to be replaced)  and the building has been very neglected and another ground floor flat has indications of subsidence.  There appears to have been no external repairs done and all the drain pipes etc need to be repaired/replaced.   I would like to live there as its near support and there are few other options in the area. But I cant see that i have to pay for the all the damage done by the freeholder having done no repairs for it seems very many years. I plan to negotiate on price re the damp and doors/windows; but the repairs urgently needed re the wider building for which the lease says i am 25% responsible as its four flats are not something i can afford, so i am wondering if anyone knows if I have a right to refuse those costs? make the freeholder bring it up to standard? the other three flats are all rented out by the freeholder himself
i dont want to offer and start paying solicitors costs before i understand if i can afford the flat or not. potentially it would be a wonderful and much safer home for me neat to friends 
thanks 

tacpot12

I would talk to the solicitor you will use for conveyancing as you need to make your offer conditional on the freeholder completing the repairs to the correct standard. You need to ask them whether they know of a way to bind the freeholder contractually to complete the repairs before have to pay the freeholder any money. They should answer this question for free.  

But I would advise that you think very carefully about buying a property where the freehold has proven themselves to be incapable of maintaining it properly. It sounds like a recipe for disaster.

saajan_12

elaneh said:

hi everyone I would be so grateful if anyone can help me. for disability reasons i need to move from my lovely house into a flat to lose the walk up and down stairs.  I have found a lovely flat but it has major works needed to the flat (damp in all rooms that needs to be dealt with as it is sub basement and all the external timber joinery needs to be replaced)  and the building has been very neglected and another ground floor flat has indications of subsidence.  There appears to have been no external repairs done and all the drain pipes etc need to be repaired/replaced.   I would like to live there as its near support and there are few other options in the area. But I cant see that i have to pay for the all the damage done by the freeholder having done no repairs for it seems very many years. I plan to negotiate on price re the damp and doors/windows; but the repairs urgently needed re the wider building for which the lease says i am 25% responsible as its four flats are not something i can afford, so i am wondering if anyone knows if I have a right to refuse those costs? make the freeholder bring it up to standard? the other three flats are all rented out by the freeholder himself
i dont want to offer and start paying solicitors costs before i understand if i can afford the flat or not. potentially it would be a wonderful and much safer home for me neat to friends 
thanks 

Who is the vendor - is this a new lease you're buying from the freeholder? 
You'd need to read the lease, but usually the leaseholders would be liable for the costs. That makes it your vendor until the sale goes through, and then you afterwards. So if you don't want to pay for it, then you need to negotiate with the vendor. 

scottishblondie

The lease will generally allow for the freeholder to make the repairs and pass the costs on to the leaseholder, and you've already said that the lease would make you responsible for 25% of the costs of common repairs.  You can't force the freeholder to do anything.
TBH I'd steer well clear.  The freeholder owns the lease of 3/4 flats in the building and yet has apparently allowed the fabric of the building to deteriorate significantly.  It doesn't sound like a good buy at all.

[Deleted User]

Just look at it from the point of view that if the freeholder hasn't bothered to do general maintenance and repairs for many years up until now, what is going to change this after you move in?  Fairy dust and wishes?  If all the other flats are rented, the owners probably don't care.  And buying a place so you can have the joy of living in a building surrounded with private tenants who have no investment in the already badly maintained building is not the sort of purchase I'd be going for.  There HAS to be something better in the area, surely?

dimbo61

Looks like a stair lift will cost a whole lot less than moving 

rik111

Sounds like you will have major hassle with this place. What makes you think the freeholder will suddenly decide to do all these major works just because you have bought the place ? He’s obviously not bothered about the place, after all he doesn’t have to live there. I presume the price is what has attracted you which probably reflects the condition so negotiating a big reduction is just not going to happen. Do you really need all the stress this will put you through ? The repair costs are a total unknown, what happens if the freeholder agrees to the work and it comes in at tens of thousands. And no the freeholder is very unlikely to carry out all the works before you purchase just to appease you.

NameUnavailable

You are responsible for your share of the costs once you buy the flat. It's very unlikely that any of that work will be done before you buy, and if there's a lot of work you can see, there will be more that you can't see right now.

Basically you have no idea at this point how much you could be liable for if you proceed. Best case scenario the freeholder actually does the work, properly, and you have to pay your 25% share. Worst case scenario the work never gets done, or even worse, they bill you for your share of the costs and still don't do the work or don't do it to a decent standard and it has to be done again and again.

Honestly, find somewhere else, this will be a money pit and a headache for you.

elaneh

thanks everyone.