Leasehold Issues

Trickyblues

I think this belongs here, but if not can someone redirect me please? Thanks!
We moved into our house in 2001. The property was leasehold. All went well for the first few years, until (unbeknown to us) a payment cheque went missing in the post. The first we knew of it was when we received a Summons to attend Court as the Leaseholders had sued us (bear in mind that the cost of the lease was £20.00 per annum). We attended Court, but the leaseholder did not. The Magistrate found in our favour as I was able to provide cheque stubs for ALL payments including the one that had gone missing. As a result of the case, the lease was considered expired (although the company still owned the land). The next thing to occur was we received a letter from the land owners saying that if we wanted to renew the lease we would have to pay THEIR court costs (along with our own which had been charged to them). We took legal advice which was that despite how unfair it was, we should pay. Alternatively, if we intended to stay in the house for life, we could just ignore it. We opted (stupidly) for the second option. Now, fifteen years later, my wife and I are in poor health, and the property is becoming too difficult to manage. We have the option to sell or convert the garage to a downstairs bedroom. As I am sure you have already understood, we cannot do either without permission from the land owner. We have tried to find them, but discovered that in May 2020 they went into voluntary insolvency. We now are stuck. We don't know who owns the land beneath our house; have no way to contact them and even if we did, no way to work out what this would cost us. We would be very grateful if anybody was able to advise us about this.
Thank you in advance.
Phil and Joy.

anselld

Not sure why lease should be considered expired just because Freeholder lost their claim, however water under the bridge.
There is a process for purchasing the freehold in the case of an absent freeholder ....
https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/i-own-a-leasehold-house-my-freeholder-has-gone-missing-what-do-i-do-if-i-wish-to-acquire-the-freehold/
Alternatively, absent freeholder is not necessarily a barrier to sale, though you may need to find a cash buyer.
Likewise, if the freeholder is genuinely absent then there is nobody to complain about unauthorised modifications.
So you would seem to have three options ... purchase freehold, sell or proceed with modifications.  The first option would probably be best in terms of preserving the value of the property if that is of any concern to you.

greatcrested

Trickyblues said:

.... the Leaseholders had sued us (bear in mind that the cost of the lease was £20.00 per annum). We attended Court, but the leaseholder did not. The Magistrate found in our favour as I was able to provide cheque stubs for ALL payments including the one that had gone missing. As a result of the case, the lease was considered expired....

I assume you mean the freeholders.

Don't understand how 'the lease was considered expired' if 'The Magistrate found in our favour'.

What does your solicitor now advise?