What happens now?

Dano1959

Hi all,
The leasehold house I am buying has had a sectional garage built at some point, the owners never got the landowners permission as it states they needed to in the lease, and the landowners won't grant retrospective consent.
The sellers solicitor has now had an indemnity policy for leasehold forfeiture put in place to cover this.

My conveyancer has come back to me and said this policy will be void if I alter or extend the property at any date, which I do plan to do. I actually want to build an attached garage as part of a wraparound diner extension in the future so the original sectional garage would be flattened anyway. I've said I do plan to extend but I'm not sure what happens next with the policy or the existing garage.

Please could someone explain what happens next and what the options are?

Thank you very much for any help you can give.

user1977

The indemnity policy has nothing to do with your future plans. If you want to carry out more additions/alterations, you apply to the freeholder for consent. Or do what the seller did, and just cross your fingers.

How does the seller know that the freeholder won't grant consent for the garage? If they've been contacted recently, it's likely the indemnity policy won't be enforceable.

canaldumidi

If the feeholder has refused retrospective cosent for the existing garage, it seems highky unlikely they will grant you consent for an additional garage in the future.

And bear in mind the indemnity insurane might protect you financially from forfeiture or legal action, but I doubt it will prevent forfeiture or other enforcement actions.

This proprty is not for you.

eddddy

So the building of the garage (without consent from the freeholder) breached the lease - hence the need for an indemnity policy.

If you demolish it, there'll no longer be a breach of the lease. So the problem goes away.


But what does the lease say about building extensions - i.e. your planned extension?  Does it say you need consent from the freeholder? Or is there complete ban on extensions?

• If you need consent for the extension and you get it - everything will be fine.

• If you need consent and you build the extension without requesting consent - that will be a new breach of the lease.

• And obviously, if you ask for consent, it's refused, and you build it anyway - that will be a new breach of the lease.

(Also, if the lease says you need consent for an extension, the law says it cannot be unreasonably refused.)

Dano1959

user1977 said:

The indemnity policy has nothing to do with your future plans. If you want to carry out more additions/alterations, you apply to the freeholder for consent. Or do what the seller did, and just cross your fingers.

How does the seller know that the freeholder won't grant consent for the garage? If they've been contacted recently, it's likely the indemnity policy won't be enforceable.

The landowners was contacted for retrospective consent by the sellers solicitor. I am just repeating what I have been told in a letter from my conveyancer about any future building works voiding that indemnity. Thanks

Dano1959

eddddy said:

So the building of the garage (without consent from the freeholder) breached the lease - hence the need for an indemnity policy.

If you demolish it, there'll no longer be a breach of the lease. So the problem goes away.


But what does the lease say about building extensions - i.e. your planned extension?  Does it say you need consent from the freeholder? Or is there complete ban on extensions?

• If you need consent for the extension and you get it - everything will be fine.

• If you need consent and you build the extension without requesting consent - that will be a new breach of the lease.

• And obviously, if you ask for consent, it's refused, and you build it anyway - that will be a new breach of the lease.

(Also, if the lease says you need consent for an extension, the law says it cannot be unreasonably refused.)

Thanks, my gut feeling was if the garage was demolished the problem wouldn't exist.
The lease says that the landowner has to be contacted about any building works/alterations, which isn't an issue for me.
I would prefer to try and buy the freehold after living there for 2 years which I guess would mean none of this would matter? I wouldn't be building in that 2 years anyway as the wraparound is a longterm goal. I am guessing an en-suite would need consent though (no bathroom upstairs). I wouldn't build without consent as it isn't worth the hassle/worry.

Thank you

user1977

Dano1959 said:

user1977 said:

The indemnity policy has nothing to do with your future plans. If you want to carry out more additions/alterations, you apply to the freeholder for consent. Or do what the seller did, and just cross your fingers.

How does the seller know that the freeholder won't grant consent for the garage? If they've been contacted recently, it's likely the indemnity policy won't be enforceable.

The landowners was contacted for retrospective consent by the sellers solicitor. I am just repeating what I have been told in a letter from my conveyancer about any future building works voiding that indemnity. Thanks

In which case I would be asking whether the indemnity insurance is actually of any value, as generally the insurers don't want anybody to have recently rocked the boat.

If it covers anything, it's only going to cover the garage which is currently there, not whatever you build in the future. And if you're planning to demolish it anyway (which is all that the freeholder could demand you do), that probably doesn't matter that much. But they might not agree to you building a replacement.

Dano1959

canaldumidi said:

If the feeholder has refused retrospective cosent for the existing garage, it seems highky unlikely they will grant you consent for an additional garage in the future.

And bear in mind the indemnity insurane might protect you financially from forfeiture or legal action, but I doubt it will prevent forfeiture or other enforcement actions.

This proprty is not for you.

Not sure I agree but thanks for your comment

GDB2222

canaldumidi said:

If the feeholder has refused retrospective cosent for the existing garage, it seems highky unlikely they will grant you consent for an additional garage in the future.

And bear in mind the indemnity insurane might protect you financially from forfeiture or legal action, but I doubt it will prevent forfeiture or other enforcement actions.

This proprty is not for you.

The leaseholder normally has the right to buy the freehold. Would that solve the problem?