Backdated Ground Rent

Afflagoni

Hi,

I have a leasehold property that was built almost 10 years ago which has a ground rent attached to the lease. The ground rent has never historically been collected however just recently they have issued a Section 166 for ground rent for the current year period ('21 - '22 ending in a couple of months) as well as the next year (August '22 - '23).

Would paying both of these and getting statements for these be a 100% guarantee they won't be asking for ground rent from all the years prior? Or would they still be allowed to ask for the previous few years (I understand it's capped at 6 years) later down the line?

Would a ground rent receipt for the current year implicitly prove there are no arrears for previous years?

The reason I'm asking is I'm selling my property and I need to obtain proof ground rent is paid and there are no arrears

Thanks

NameUnavailable

If you pay this and next years ground rent then you still have 5 years arrears, however it is up to the freeholder to bill you for those. It seems very odd that they haven't included the other 5 years in the recent demand, but I would just ignore it.

The query will come up when you sell so it may be better to address it with them now.

Afflagoni

Thanks, from what they've said it won't be requested prior to 2021.

I was hoping a receipt for 2021 ground rent would prove that there are no arrears prior to that (In the sense, if there were arrears, any money would go to them first and foremost, so having a receipt for 2021-2022 proves you are up to date). But from what you are saying I could pay 2021-2022, and they could still later request the previous years? There's no provisions that they can't ask for payments prior to dates you've already paid for?

canaldumidi

Yes they could later bill for earlier years. How much is the Ground Rent? Suppose they billed for 6 years how much would that be? In the context of a property sale it's (probably) so insignificant that neither you nor your buyer should get your knickers twisted up over it....