Leasehold Caoch House - lease extension/purchase of freehold

JohnTheSkier

Hi,

I've had an offer accepted on a coach house flat with 2 garages beneath (1 of which comes with the flat). I was told it was freehold, but now the estate agent has informed me that it is actually leasehold.

This is unusual for coach houses, and another on the same estate appears to be freehold. My question is whether I would be entitled to purchase the freehold (under enfranchisement) or extend my lease after 2 years, and whether it would count as a flat or a house for this purpose?

I can't find much on this, and it really isn't clear to me what rights I would have.

eddddy

JohnTheSkier said:

My question is whether I would be entitled to purchase the freehold (under enfranchisement) or extend my lease after 2 years, and whether it would count as a flat or a house for this purpose?

Because of the building is (partly) divided horizontally (above one of the garages), I think the law would say it's a flat - not a house.

So you wouldn't be able to buy the freehold by statutory enfranchisement.

(But if you google something like 'freehold enfranchisement valuation' you'll find lots of enfranchisement valuers and surveyors - you could phone a few and say you're considering purchasing a leasehold coach house and you'll want to buy the freehold by statutory enfranchisement.  They might give you an instant opinion over the phone on whether it's possible.)

JohnTheSkier said:

This is unusual for coach houses, and another on the same estate appears to be freehold.

It might be because the developer started off selling them as leasehold, then due to a backlash on leaseholds, they sold the newer ones as freehold.

You (or the seller) can the freeholder if they'd sell the freehold of the coach house. In theory, they can still sell it to you voluntarily, even if you don't have the right to statutory enfranchisement.

But I suspect it might be impossible without re-writing the lease on the garage you don't own - which would be a huge (perhaps impossible) obstacle.

hazyjo

Are you sure the freehold ones are over garages and not entrances to garages or properties, etc? That's far more common with a "coach house". They usually 'hang' over something.

I would expect yours to be leasehold. Is this the only flat over the garages? There was a similar set-up in a house I used to own. My 2 garages were under a single flat, but there were garages belonging to others too. Definitely leasehold in that situation.

JohnTheSkier

hazyjo said:

Are you sure the freehold ones are over garages and not entrances to garages or properties, etc? That's far more common with a "coach house". They usually 'hang' over something.

I would expect yours to be leasehold. Is this the only flat over the garages? There was a similar set-up in a house I used to own. My 2 garages were under a single flat, but there were garages belonging to others too. Definitely leasehold in that situation.

Yes, the one I have checked on land registry is a mirror image of the one I am looking at, but is freehold. Both are over 2 garages and 1 vehicle access to a car park behind.

JohnTheSkier

eddddy said:

JohnTheSkier said:

My question is whether I would be entitled to purchase the freehold (under enfranchisement) or extend my lease after 2 years, and whether it would count as a flat or a house for this purpose?

Because of the building is (partly) divided horizontally (above one of the garages), I think the law would say it's a flat - not a house.

So you wouldn't be able to buy the freehold by statutory enfranchisement.

(But if you google something like 'freehold enfranchisement valuation' you'll find lots of enfranchisement valuers and surveyors - you could phone a few and say you're considering purchasing a leasehold coach house and you'll want to buy the freehold by statutory enfranchisement.  They might give you an instant opinion over the phone on whether it's possible.)

JohnTheSkier said:

This is unusual for coach houses, and another on the same estate appears to be freehold.

It might be because the developer started off selling them as leasehold, then due to a backlash on leaseholds, they sold the newer ones as freehold.

You (or the seller) can the freeholder if they'd sell the freehold of the coach house. In theory, they can still sell it to you voluntarily, even if you don't have the right to statutory enfranchisement.

But I suspect it might be impossible without re-writing the lease on the garage you don't own - which would be a huge (perhaps impossible) obstacle.

Thanks, that is how I read it also. However that being the case then it would be classed as a flat and as far as I can see I would have a statutory right to extend the lease by 90 years (once I had owned it at least 2 years)?

eddddy

JohnTheSkier said:

Thanks, that is how I read it also. However that being the case then it would be classed as a flat and as far as I can see I would have a statutory right to extend the lease by 90 years (once I had owned it at least 2 years)?

Yep - that's correct. You'd be able to do a statutory lease extension.

If you were desperate to extend the lease sooner than 2 years, you could ask the seller to start the process before completion and you finish it.

But there are reforms to the law being discussed, which might make the process cheaper and might allow you to extend the lease to 990 years - so it might be better to wait.