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Leasehold flat no letting clause

kerrick
kerrick Posts: 90 Forumite
10 Posts First Anniversary Name Dropper
edited 2 July 2022 at 8:08AM in House buying, renting & selling
A flat is offered for sale, its a normal property not retirement or social housing or shared ownership. But the estate agent says it is owner occupied only and no letting or sub letting allowed. Would this be because of a clause in the lease? Why would it want to prevent letting? So if you had to work overseas for a couple of years you cannot even rent it out to cover the mortgage? Would that clause remain even if you bought the freehold?

Comments

  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 17,761 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Name Dropper

    It would be a clause in the lease.

    Some flat owners prefer leases with a 'no letting clause', because they think that owner/occupiers look after the place better than AST tenants, and/or maybe they feel that there's a better 'vibe' in the place if everyone is a long-term owner occupier.

    So the leases were originally created to appeal to those types of flat owners.

    The letting prohibition would still apply if you had to work overseas.

    kerrick said:
    Would that clause remain even if you bought the freehold?

    Just to clarify - you can't buy the freehold of a flat.

    But, in simple terms...

    • A group of the leaseholders could club together and buy the freehold of the building. Then, if everyone agreed, it would be possible to change everyone's lease to allow letting.
    • But I suspect a number of flat owners would object - because they bought the flats as owner/occupiers and were pleased they had 'no letting clauses'. If some people object, nobody's lease could be changed.

  • canaldumidi
    canaldumidi Posts: 3,511 Forumite
    Tenth Anniversary 1,000 Posts Name Dropper Combo Breaker
    edited 2 July 2022 at 8:05PM
    eddddy said:


      If some people just one person objects, nobody's lease could be changed.
    Just to be clear!
  • Norman_Castle
    Norman_Castle Posts: 11,871 Forumite
    Part of the Furniture 10,000 Posts Photogenic Name Dropper
    kerrick said:
    Would this be because of a clause in the lease? Why would it want to prevent letting?
    It would avoid the building becoming full of buy to let properties.

  • Ath_Wat
    Ath_Wat Posts: 1,504 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Name Dropper
    I would suggest you don't take an overseas job unless it comes with free accommodation; then you can just continue paying your mortgage as normal.
  • NameUnavailable
    NameUnavailable Posts: 3,030 Forumite
    1,000 Posts Fourth Anniversary Name Dropper
    What if you took a job overseas for 2 years and your tenants didn't want to move out when you wanted to return?
  • Simply don't buy it if you ever think there could be a possibility you would need to rent it out for whatever reason.
  • user1977
    user1977 Posts: 17,286 Forumite
    10,000 Posts Seventh Anniversary Photogenic Name Dropper
    Ath_Wat said:
    I would suggest you don't take an overseas job unless it comes with free accommodation; then you can just continue paying your mortgage as normal.
    Only if your lender is happy with you leaving the property unoccupied - which I wouldn't be too confident about.
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