FTB: Flat Grade 2 building. Help with section 20 roof repair, subsidence and leasehold with CoE

ldn0022

Hello Forum,

I am writing to the Forum as I am always amazed at your support for FTB.

I need some help to decide about buying my first flat in London. The flat is in a grade 2 church conversion, with the Church of England as the freehold owner. I am buying a flat in southeast London, but we discovered that the vendors weren't transparent during the process and didn't share all the information. 

We asked just before making the offer if the lease could be extended. We have doubts because the ecclesiastic landlords have different rules. They say yes. We wondered if there were any major repairs in the building, they said no; we asked about subsidence the vendors also said no. 

However, we discovered later that these initial answers weren't accurate. I am focusing my questions only related to possible problems to sell the flat in the future. 

So far, we don't have conclusive answers to the following:

1. Leasehold extension: 

The vendors haven't asked the freeholder to identify:

a. if the flat is excluded from starting a process of extension lease in the future (Crown and National Trust properties and those in a cathedral precinct are excluded from the provisions ) 

b. if the flat won't qualify for a lease extension process ( such as The landlord is a charitable housing trust, and the flat is provided as part of the charity's work, among others unqualified characteristics). 

Our lawyer cannot advise on this. We don't know where else to look for this information. Do you have any experience with this?

2. Major repairs: 

Yes, there were major repairs in their way. Section 20 will be triggered soon, and that means the entire roof of the grade 2 building needs repairs. The vendor has proposed to put an amount in a bank account to pay for the roof repairs when the bill is available. However, we don't know how much the final bill will be, and therefore we can be in a situation where the bill is way bigger than we expected and we need to pay it.

Is that solution reasonable? is there any other type of solution? We just got the SOW and sent it to a couple of builders with experience in grade 2 buildings for quotes. What would you do?

3. Subsidence: 

We discovered that one flat in the building has to make a subsidence claim. The excess of the policy now is 10K! Our lawyer has told us that she needs to report this to our lender. The vendors told us that "The Insurance broker has advised that the excess for this policy is £10,000 for subsidence now. That is because of the open subsidence claim at the time of renewal; however, the excess applicable to this claim is £1000.00. Furthermore, the costs to repair have been agreed with the Loss Adjuster". 

Our survey says that the property is within an area known for London Clay. We are confused about what all this means and if this is a considerable risk or not for us. Can you advise what to ask or where to find more information? Does their answer sound reasonable to you?

We did a Survey level 3 to discover problems in the building; so far, the only problems the surveyor found are: 

* Risk of future movement: moderate

* Subsidence: London Clay/ no future investigation

* Roof: repair

* Chambers: urgent repairs

All these questions we have been asking since November!! Every question takes weeks to be answered. I am losing my patience, but I don't want to make a massive mistake that I will regret. I would appreciate any help. 

Thanks!

lincroft1710

With any prospective purchase there can be problems. If the problems seem to be either insurmountable or unviable to fix, it is time to start looking elsewhere. Also remember if you buy, that any unfixed or unfixable problems can also deter any future prospective purchaser when you come to sell.

Slithery

ldn0022 said:

Our lawyer cannot advise on this.

Then switch to a different one that can. It's your solicitors job to read the lease and bring any potential issues to light. If they can't do this then what else are they missing regarding the purchase?