Buying a leasehold semi...

Burnsie1983

So, I am buying a semi detached house which has 250+ left on the lease at £50per year (no service charges etc).

My question is, would I be able to buy the leasehold (if financially appropriate) via the official route. From what I can tell, you need to own the whole building (ie both properties), and this you can't own a semi.... Am I right?

Slithery

No, you are wrong.

NinjaTune

You're already buying the leasehold - do you mean are you able to buy the freehold?

Burnsie1983

NinjaTune said:

You're already buying the leasehold - do you mean are you able to buy the freehold?

Yes, sorry. Typing and watching Taskmaster don't mix!

anselld

It depends on the details of the Lease, see ...
https://www.lease-advice.org/article/leasehold-houses-buying-freehold-next-step-make-sure-roof-foundations/

eddddy

Being a semi detached house doesn't prevent you from compulsorily buying the freehold (it's called statutory enfranchisement) - as long as other criteria are met. e.g. You have to own the lease for 2 years.

LEASE says:

QUALIFYING FOR ENFRANCHISEMENT
The right to enfranchise depends on the house, the lease and you meeting certain conditions, which are set out below.

The house
The house must be a building which is reasonably considered a house, divided vertically from any adjoining house. It does not matter if the building has been divided into flats as long as you have the lease of the whole house.
Certain buildings which contain business premises can qualify as a house within this definition. For example, the lease of a building which is a shop with a flat above may qualify for enfranchisement.

link: https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/houses-qualification-valuation/

So a semi is fine.

BMilo1

Is there a reason for the house being leasehold and not freehold? I, myself have just come out of a leasehold nightmare and wouldn't touch any leasehold property with a barge pole! I believe you have to have owned the property for 2 years before buying the freehold, the cost will depend a lot on whether the ground rent increases during the life of the lease. I would suggest speaking to a specialist lease solicitor before committing to the purchase. 

RelievedSheff

BMilo1 said:

Is there a reason for the house being leasehold and not freehold? I, myself have just come out of a leasehold nightmare and wouldn't touch any leasehold property with a barge pole! I believe you have to have owned the property for 2 years before buying the freehold, the cost will depend a lot on whether the ground rent increases during the life of the lease. I would suggest speaking to a specialist lease solicitor before committing to the purchase. 

That would mean that you would not be buying property in large swathes of the country.

BMilo1

RelievedSheff said:

BMilo1 said:

Is there a reason for the house being leasehold and not freehold? I, myself have just come out of a leasehold nightmare and wouldn't touch any leasehold property with a barge pole! I believe you have to have owned the property for 2 years before buying the freehold, the cost will depend a lot on whether the ground rent increases during the life of the lease. I would suggest speaking to a specialist lease solicitor before committing to the purchase. 

That would mean that you would not be buying property in large swathes of the country.

There's absolutely no reason for a house to be of leasehold tenure only for the developer to have financial gain. Leasehold flats are another story as there's multiple flats on one plot of land.

Hebblethwaite

BMilo1 said:

RelievedSheff said:

BMilo1 said:

Is there a reason for the house being leasehold and not freehold? I, myself have just come out of a leasehold nightmare and wouldn't touch any leasehold property with a barge pole! I believe you have to have owned the property for 2 years before buying the freehold, the cost will depend a lot on whether the ground rent increases during the life of the lease. I would suggest speaking to a specialist lease solicitor before committing to the purchase. 

That would mean that you would not be buying property in large swathes of the country.

There's absolutely no reason for a house to be of leasehold tenure only for the developer to have financial gain. Leasehold flats are another story as there's multiple flats on one plot of land.

I wouldn't buy a leasehold new build (or recent build) as there can be a lot of issues. However, a lot of older properties are leasehold in Sheffield (and presumably other areas may be predominantly leasehold too), so you would be ruling out a good 60%+ of the property market in that area. The last house I viewed had 734 years left on the lease and £10 ground rent per year. It's not the same as buying from a dodgy modern developer.