Inherited house with a max 60 year old Lease Disabilities Trust are Freeholders- where do we start?

wendb69

My mother in law recently passed away and lived in a Leasehold property.   

The Freeholder is the Disabilities Trust.

When she brought the house 21 years ago - it appears that they had to extend the Lease to 60 years - although we are not able to find any paperwork on this.

There is now 40 years left on the lease.    The property, initially had stipulations regarding who could live there - someone over 60 with disabilities.

We have contacted the D Trust who aren't really giving us much information - and really, they can't even find information relating to the original lease.   They 'seem' unsure on what all the facts are themselves.  Its a nightmare.

We dont know where to start with all this.

• Is there something that stipulates that certain properties when sold must have a 60 year old lease?
• How the hell will we sell this with a 40 year lease if not?
• Who would want to buy something with a 40 year old lease - even to consider a 60 year old lease may cause problems.
• If we suggested we buy the Freehold - unsure if this is possible - could we revert it to a freehold property and forget all about a lease?

We have a probate solicitor working on that side of things, but she doesn't seem keen to help with this side and keeps putting it off (understandably if she is not a conveyancing solicitor).  

We've been scratching our heads for 6 months - so we are hoping someone here can help.

RAS

What information is in the documents you've downloaded from the Land Registry, assuming you are in England, Wales or Scotland?

tacpot12

Prety much all properties can be sold at the right price. Someone over 60 with disabilities is probably not going to live more than 40 years anyway, so would be  happy to buy it. It is an unfortunate fact that people with disabilities have a reduced life expectancy compared to the general population. 

I would also suggest that you don't give up on the Trust. I could eventually get their act together and offer you a lease extension, although this might only be to 60 years. Even so, this is a useful extension given the limitations of the lease. 

As far as I know there is no way to force the freehold owner of a house that is/was occupied by one family to sell the freehold. With flats (and houses that have been converted to flats), it can be forced. The Trust may also be willing or even keen to sell you the freehold - they may not be aware that you want to buy, so let them know. 

wendb69

RAS said:

What information is in the documents you've downloaded from the Land Registry, assuming you are in England, Wales or Scotland?

England 

user1977

wendb69 said:

• Who would want to buy something with a 40 year old lease

Somebody who has enough cash (the short lease/non-mortgageability will restrict the price) and isn't anticipating living there more than 40 years? It's not mortgageable, but likely candidates probably don't qualify for a mortgage for other reasons anyway.

GDB2222

wendb69 said:

RAS said:

What information is in the documents you've downloaded from the Land Registry, assuming you are in England, Wales or Scotland?

England 

You do have a copy of the lease? If not, you can obtain a copy from the Land Registry. It’s not online, but it’s available by filling in the right form. Form number escapes me for a minute.

It’s form OC2. 

Once you have the lease, you can see precisely what conditions are attached. 

You are probably entitled, also, to extend the lease term. You would have to pay quite a bit for that, though, and you would probably need a surveyor to help you negotiate. 

eddddy

Usually, leaseholders have the statutory right to buy the freehold of their house - it's called statutory enfranchisement.

But with a lease as short as 40 years, the cost would be high.


But... I believe there's an exception where the freeholder is "a charitable housing trust and the house forms part of the housing accommodation provided by the trust in the pursuit of its charitable purposes.”

So that might apply to this house.


If that's the case, you might be at the mercy of the freeholder - and only able to extend the lease and/or buy the freehold if they allow you to.

GaleSF63

I would buy something like this if it were suitable. I don't have anywhere near 40 years and don't have any near relatives breathing down my neck for inheritance, so this way I wouldn't have to spend an unnecessarily high price for a length of lease that is never going to benefit me. In fact it looks like an advantage! More money now! I can't be the only one in this position.

NameUnavailable

Depending on the terms of the lease you could look to rent the property to a qualifying tenant, or sell at auction, or maybe rent/sell back to the trust themselves.

Norman_Castle

Is it possible the short lease extension is intentional given the intended occupier or she chose that length based on affordability and expected lifespan?

I'd start by enquiring about extending the lease, if you know how it can be extended and the price that should help to sell the property.