Buying freehold and not registered with Land Registry

Battenburg

I have a related situation to the posts on this thread. I have a leasehold property (terraced house) which has an annual ground rent of £2.62 on a 900-year lease from 1898 (so 778 years left on the lease). I wanted to buy the freehold, which appeared to be held by an individual investor living in a different part of the UK. Around 18 months ago, the owner of the freehold asked for the ground rent via a property agency as per usual, but sent me a letter saying that the agency would no longer be collecting the ground rent (presumably because it wasn't cost effective for them for a small amount, sending a demand, taking payment to the bank etc.).
At that point I wrote back to the owner of the freehold asking if she would make me an offer for buying it out. She replied that she was very elderly and that the property agency had always taken care of her leasehold investments and that she would ask them to get in touch with me, implying it was beyond her capabilities to deal with it. I heard nothing for over a year (and half forgot about it). I have contacted the agency in the past week and they said:

"Apologies for the delay in replying.   We understand that Mrs X is looking to sell the portfolio however it would appear that none of the freehold interests are registered at the Land Registry and the costs for doing this far outweigh the value of the ground rent and we believe that this is the reason why no-one has been approached to manage the freeholds in the meantime. 

We would anticipate that the likely cost to purchase the freehold would be in the region of approximately £500 plus VAT and approximately £750 plus VAT for the vendor’s legal costs, plus your own legal fees.

We trust this is of assistance" (my emphasis)

I'm not sure how to interpret this. I feel like this information should rather put the ball in my own court, as the investment is all but worthless to the freeholder. Does anyone have any advice on how I could secure the freehold in the most cost-effective way?

Thanks

greatcrested

Well th cost of compulsory 1st registration would fall on the buyer - you.

£750 is fair for legal fees for an unregistered property. Your lega fees will be similar.

£500 for the freehold has probably been picked out of the air. It's enough to make it worthwhile for the seller. Anything less is only really worth doing if the benefit is getting shot of the portfolio, rather than inancial gain.

But try offering £200 "to take it off your hands."

See also leaseadvice here.