Leased garage issue with House sale question

11MikeJohns

It was built to building regs and alot less potentially flammable then if it was a garage now

tink_1983

11MikeJohns said:

It was built to building regs and alot less potentially flammable then if it was a garage now

I appreciate that. But check the lease very carefully, if it says no electrics etc this is where new buyers may stumble and be advised it's an issue.
If their solicitor is any good that is.!

When selling ours with coach house over garage the issue of insurance owed to coach house was mentioned several times by solicitors, as there was nothing formally written at the time to say what % is due to coach house etc. We had to resolve that. Which did take weeks! 

greatcrested

11MikeJohns said:

The people who own the coach house above the garages, own the lease on all 4 garages individually.

Well no, clearly they don't, since at least one of the leases is owned by you!

Do you perhaps mean they own the feehold? If so, why not ask them for written consent for the conversion? That is, assuming your buyer or their solicior raise this as an issue.

AlexMac

I'm no legal eagle (where is expert Greatcrested when you need advice?) but it strikes me you can either

1. -  keep your head down and hope the buyer's solicitor doesn't notice this nor highlight this clause to their client... as they should 'cos that's waht they are being paid for; but hey, they might be sloppy
-  or that if they do, the buyers won't care,
-  or that if they do, the buiyers won't wait til you're over a barrel and threaten to withdraw from the sale at the last minute unless you either fix it or drop the price (my mate discovered an equally  minor glitch in the title when buying his last gaff, played hardball and negotiated a price cut)

Or, 2. on the grounds that your current freeholder (of the garage)  is cool, and that as davidmc says above, YOUR solicitor is paid to protect YOUR interests, you could tell 'em to sort this, probably via a minor legal process such as a Deed of Variation on the lease at your expense (just as my solicitor insisted the vendors' ones do when we bought a leasehold flat with a few ambiguous features about the red-lines; demand the vendors sort it so it wouldn't come back to bite me in the b*m)

But then I'm old fashioned and believe in old slogans like "keep it simple" and "honesty is the best policy " (only occasionally tempered by "don't tell 'em more than is good for 'em").

If you go for 2. get ready to bung the happy freeholder a bottle of Bolly; or at least Tea and Cake (to quote Greatcrested's perennial solution)

NameUnavailable

11MikeJohns said:

The people who own the coach house above the garages, own the lease on all 4 garages individually.

This could be a problem for you. Assuming the people who live in the coach house own the freehold, they are responsible for the buildings insurance and would have to make their insurers aware of the change of use.

From what you say it seems like the previous occupiers just said OK when you wanted to change the use of the garage but didn't take it any further (so potentially invalidating their insurance in the process).

There may be some other obligations to the developers in terms of the garages.

You need to speak to whoever owns the coach house and see if you can get formal permission for the change of use - best to speak to your solicitor about it first as they may be able to assist.

Personally speaking, the appeal of those type of property is that nobody lives above or below you. I wouldn't have agreed to someone turning a garage into a games room below my home. The fact it's already been done (and presumably without them noticing anything) does at least demonstrate that it's not causing noise etc.

eddddy

TBH, the easiest solution might be to explain the situation to your buyer, and suggest to your buyer that they don't mention it to their solicitor, as it may open a can of worms. (i.e. They can continue to use it as a games room, unless/until a current or future freeholder gets into a strop, and tells them to stop.) But I suspect that a lot of buyers would be alarmed by that.

Or maybe say nothing, and just hope that the buyer doesn't mention it to their solicitor anyway.


The way of rectifying the situation properly would be to agree a lease variation between you and the freeholder (probably the owner of the coach house).  They'd be a chunk of legal fees to be paid.

And the freeholder might work out (or their solicitor might advise them) that they've got you over a barrel - in that you need the lease variation to sell your house. So the freeholder could get ideas about charging you a few thousand pounds as premium for the lease variation.

tink_1983

I think the prospective buyer needs to be aware of the issues that may arise.. and his solicitor will do that. 
So I'd get out in front of it asap.

11MikeJohns

Thanks all for your helpful comments.

I'm going to discuss it with my solicitor and try to organise a deed variance now, rather than wait for the buyers solicitor to use it against me.

Cheers, Mike.

eddddy

11MikeJohns said:

Thanks all for your helpful comments.

I'm going to discuss it with my solicitor and try to organise a deed variance now, rather than wait for the buyers solicitor to use it against me.

Cheers, Mike.

Just to double check - you're sure the coach house owners are the freeholders (as opposed to the coach house owners being leasholders).

The psychology and strategy are likely to be bigger challenges than the legal issues. You need to persuade the freeholders to do something which they might not understand very well, and which does not benefit them - but it benefits you.  (FWIW, a solicitor's advice to me was "Never sign a document unless there is some benefit to you in signing the document".)

Do you want to start the discussions with the freeholder by a 'chance meeting' on the driveway, by inviting the freeholders round to tea, by instructing your solicitor to send them a formal letter, etc?

11MikeJohns

Hi Eddddy, thanks for the comment, my neighbor is the freehold owner of the coach house and garages, and leases them to myself and my other neighbor on a peppercorn rent that we have never paid over the 20+ years we have lived here.

I'm sure he will be ok with it if we have to amend the lease.

Cheers

Mike.