Awful house buying experience

ciderboy2009

One other thing to bear in mind is that house prices in a number of Bristol areas have been shooting up this year.  I've been shocked at some of the prices local to me and they've all gone SSTC within a week.

If you pull out of this one then it is likely to cost you between 3-5% more now than the prices in January.

firsttimesellerldn

My parent's house in Bristol was also leasehold but for a peppercorn rent - they bought the freehold years ago. It's not generally a big deal on older houses. 

Similarly, you can get the same types of covenants on freehold houses too. There was one on a freehold house I was hoping to buy last year about not extending out the back more than six inches if I recall. I'm not sure who would have been enforcing it these days though (house was a century old) , not that we were intending to extend. 

Basically there's often something which doesn't appear straightforward with many houses! 

jimbog

I think you're overreacting. It's not a deal breaker - it's the same as freehold more or less

Does this mean you won't be looking at freeholds that carry any covenants too?

vivster

A couple of years ago I discovered my parents’ house (built in the 1840s), which they’ve lived in since 1969, was leasehold not freehold. My mother said she used to pay some ground rent but hasn’t done for years. I freaked out a bit in case the lease was getting short or there was years of rent arrears to pay and urged her to check it out. It’s apparently a very common form of tenure in the town, which has a lot of Victorian property and the solicitor told her there’s nothing to worry about. They’ve improved and extended the property over the years. It’s just a normal house.

if you love the property, I’d consider buying it.

Nikkilou86

My parents house is freehold - they have a covenant stating they have to have a certain style of windows and they can’t cut down the two trees in the front garden - trouble is there is three trees and no one knows which two it applies too 🤣🤣

Thrugelmir

MascoloStatusCorp said:

I try not to panic and get to the bottom of it, considering we love his house and it’s an old house with hundreds of years left on the lease and peppercorn rent. But no one can find the freehold title, its not registered and its just messy.

Your solicitor is there to hold your hand. If you really loved the property you wouldn't be here ranting.  The property has changed hands many times before. No different to many thousands of others in this country in the same position. Ours is here. The land the houses was built on was originally part of a large family owned estate. The main house fell in ruin in the 50's and was demolished. The peppercorn rent hasn't been paid in decades either by ourselves or the previous owners, who were here over 40 years. 

hazyjo

lookstraightahead said:

To be fair op you're taking on a mortgage so theoretically the house isn't "yours" til you own it outright ie the bank have first refusal.
so you might be overthinking the leasehold bit.

Not exactly true. You own it, the bank merely have an interest and can demand full repayment of that loan (mortgage) if you don't keep up the payments/abide by the terms. That's usually done by repossessing and selling as the loan is so big.

AdrianC

Nikkilou86 said:

My parents house is freehold - they have a covenant stating they have to have a certain style of windows and they can’t cut down the two trees in the front garden - trouble is there is three trees and no one knows which two it applies too 🤣🤣

Which one do they like least? That's the one that can go.

Falafels

MascoloStatusCorp said:

ciderboy2009 said:

MascoloStatusCorp said:

ciderboy2009 said:

What is it about the leasehold you don't like?  If it's got hundreds of years left at a peppercorn rent then it's near as dammit freehold.

You tend to find a lot of older properties in Bristol have this set up.  It's only newer leasehold properties that you really need to worry about and read the lease with a fine-tooth comb.

I don't like the covenant stating I can't change the footprint or build a garage or whatever without writing and receiving consent from the freeholder, a freeholder who cannot be found. 

Ok, so how often have you heard about action being taken against people who have breached covenants?  Particularly on older properties (I'm assuming 1930's or thereabouts as in a lot of Bristol).

I've only heard of one person ever being threatened with action.  This came from a developer on a new build property when it was a blatant breach.

Even then it was never taken any further (and they continue to breach that covenant to this day).

 I wanted to be freeholder when I bought my first house, not someone who pays for the privilege to stay in some rooms for 900 years.

I'm sure if you're still living there in 900 years time, you'll be able to sort something out!