Freeholder will not provide info to solicitors for sale of flat

The_Walker

I'm not sure what we can do about this situation? We have a buyer for the our flat and the process has reached 50%. Everyone is now waiting on our freeholder to provide whatever basic info is required.

I've messaged him twice now, following the solicitors growing frustrated with him. Initially he said the solicitors emails when to his junk folder, and that he'll get it done. That was on the 12th. Here we are, and still nothing. I don't know his motive, possibly wreck the sale and make his own low offer? Just cause a delay for the hell of it? Who knows. He did try to charge us £20K to renew the lease, which was actually worth £10K and that's what we paid in the end. Maybe he's just super slow?

Has anyone had a similar experience with a delaying freeholder? Is there any recourse we might have if he ends up blowing the sale??

cheers

NameUnavailable

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do - the freeholder can simply ignore your requests if they choose to and yes that means they can effectively block you from selling.

Another leasehold issue that really needs addressing by Govt.

michael1234

NameUnavailable said:

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do - the freeholder can simply ignore your requests if they choose to and yes that means they can effectively block you from selling.

Another leasehold issue that really needs addressing by Govt.

If that is true then wow! Yet another reason not to touch leasehold.

Is it true though?

tacpot12

Money usually works in these situations. Make it worth their while. Offer a cash sum to them if the sale completes within n weeks. 

NameUnavailable

michael1234 said:

NameUnavailable said:

Unfortunately there's nothing you can do - the freeholder can simply ignore your requests if they choose to and yes that means they can effectively block you from selling.

Another leasehold issue that really needs addressing by Govt.

If that is true then wow! Yet another reason not to touch leasehold.

Is it true though?

Yes it's true, and I have seen it happen, the flat had to be sold at auction.

As the freeholder or management company can charge to complete the form (no limit to what they can ask for just that it has to be 'reasonable' and that is usually circa £500) the financial incentive is usually enough for them to bother to do it. But they can ignore the request if they choose to.

anselld

12th .. 26th ..  two weeks elapsed.   It is not that long.  I have known plenty of solicitors take far longer than this to respond so simple enquiries or complete simple tasks and LPE1 is not entirely simple to complete.

eddddy

You should try to investigate why your freeholder isn't providing the info. Do you have a contact number?

What 'type' of person/company is your freeholder? For example, are they:

• A professional property company
• An individual property professional
• a random person that you know nothing about
• A flat owner - who happens to own the building freehold, but knows nothing about leaseholds etc
• A butcher who owns the shop downstairs - and also owns the freehold of the building

Presumably, there is no management company involved. (How is the building maintained?)

And what is the reason for them not replying?

• They are disorganised - and forgotten about it
• It's in their in-tray, but they haven't reached it yet
• They haven't got the information needed
• They're lazy - can't be bothered
• They made a specific decision not to answer your solicitor  (if so, why?)

Once you know that, you might be able to work out a strategy for getting them to reply.

london21

Maybe give it some time. sometimes easier if company than an individual.

Leasehold properties can be a pain sometimes.

Some charge crazy service charge, unreasonable  work charges etc.

The_Walker

Here's an update, we finally spoke to the freeholder and this is his explanation for the delay. He says he doesn't want to sign anything without consulting his solicitor first, it's a long document and he needs it checked out. He's waiting on his solicitor to get back to him. He was not pleasant on the phone.

I immediately spoke to our solicitor and she said the document is standard information, not difficult to fill in and does not commit the freeholder to anything. She is aghast at how long this has been dragging on and his lack of response/behaviour. They'd be trying to track him down for a long time before the 12th when he claimed he found the emails in his junk folder.

We bought the flat 5 years ago from other owners, so he must have filled in the very same document back then as freeholder. He knows the procedure.

If I can I will contact the previous owners to find out if he tried anything with them.

He and his wife own another house in the South where they are now living. They are comfortably off. They don't own any other properties. They're not property professionals, he works in freight.

My theory now is A. He wants to consult his solicitor to find out how much money he can possibly extort from us. Or B. He wants to blow the sale, and offer a small sum to buy it himself in the future.

The more I find out about freeholders powers the more terrifying it gets. Obviously we didn't want to buy with a lease (who would?) but it was all we could afford basically. Depending on the lease contract, he may be able to even prevent us from renting the property out. That would be an apocalyptic scenario.

HopeAndDriftWood

@The_Walker Is it the LPE1 that you're asking to have completed?

We've been asked to complete this for another flat in our block... we have a freeholder who collects ground rent and will fill out a small part of the form but not the rest for £150; and a management committee that we're all members of, but the solicitor of the seller has said that he shouldn't fill it in himself, so he's asked us to do it. 

To be fair, the document itself recommends that you get legal advice before completing it, and the questions aren't easy... it covers fire safety, etc. He might not be being an !!!!!! on purpose, and I'm not sure that anything you've said suggests that he wants to extort from you or block the sale. He may very well just not know the answers; and not want to be legally responsible for providing them. Do you know, for example, if your block of flats has had a fire safety check within the last 12 months? 

In our case, the person selling said they couldn't provide the LPE1 and the buyer has gone ahead anyway. 

kasqueak

2 weeks isn’t very long. When I sold my flat last year we waited 7 weeks for the ‘management pack’ info from the freeholders.