Freehold flat / flying freehold

eddddy

EllenaVerde2022 said:

Richard_Webster said:

"I have seen the registry entry and it is definitely freehold without any lease."   So what is the extent of the land comprised in the title?   Is it just the flat or is it the whole building?   From what has been said I assume - but you will confirm - that the freehold title is not subject to a lease or leases of other parts of the building.

The title is for the first floor flat and the stairs from the front door to the flat. There is also a portion of the front garden just sufficient for the path that leads to the front door. The ground floor flat is a different title number and includes the front garden (except the path to the 1st floor flat). There aren't any leases.

OK - so assuming it's a genuine freehold flat.

As you say, it will be very difficult to get a mortgage. Here are the replies from mortgage lenders, when asked "Does the lender lend on freehold flats?":  https://lendershandbook.ukfinance.org.uk/lenders-handbook/englandandwales/question-list/1836/

As you can see, at the very least there'll need to be deeds (positive covenants) in place to ensure building maintenance, etc - in order to get any kind of mortgage. In fact, I doubt you'd want to buy without positive covenants anyway.

In terms of valuation, the best bet is to look at sold prices for other freehold flats nearby. Often they'll be a group of them in the same area. 

I'm not sure that you can think of it in terms "a leasehold flat costs £x, so a freehold flat has to be y% cheaper".


(As an example, I've seen a largish group of freehold flats in Worthing, Sussex. I suspect many of them are owned by retired people who have paid off their mortgage, downsized, and moved to the coast. So the poor mortgageabilty might have less of an impact on prices.)

user1977

You might want to get some preliminary legal advice to check you're not misinterpreting the titles.