How to find Lease info ?

deejaybee

Possibly going to view a Leasehold HOUSE ( i know, i know )

My OH phoned the EA to ask about it :  Response was that lease is 999 years from 2015,  £250 p.a service charge,  £175 p.a ground rent.

EA said "re-assessed " every 10 years, didnt say if it doubled, or by inflation etc, and didnt specify if referring to service charge or ground rent, or both.

Also said that can purchase freehold for £5000.

House looks to be unoccupied presently.  I dont know who built them.

Is there a way to find out the above info definitively, before going any further ?

Thanks in advance

eddddy

The lease itself will give full details about lease length and ground rent. That info should also be on the title register.

A 'good' estate agent should have a copy of the title register, so you could ask them to forward it. Or you can download it from land registry for £3. Starting here:  https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry


The Service Charge isn't 'reassessed', as such. It will be your share of the cost of work done to the common areas etc.  If a lot of work is done one year (e.g. pruning trees, repairing pavements, replacing fences, etc), then the service charge will be high that year. If not much work is done in a particular year, your service charge will be lower that year.

You can ask the seller what the service charge has been in previous years - to get an idea of what it's likely to be in the future.

You can also look at the common areas (trees, pavements, fences, etc) to decide whether you think they'll need money spending on them soon.



Where did the £5k figure for purchasing the freehold come from?

For example, it's possible that the freeholder has offered to sell the freehold for £5k. But the freeholder can change their mind.

eddddy

deejaybee said:

Is there a way to find out the above info definitively, before going any further ?

Also, I guess you have to look at this from a 'chicken and egg' perspective.

You could spend lots of time asking lots of questions about the lease etc, then view inside the house, and decide you don't like it.

So there's an argument for viewing it, before you take lots of time asking questions.

(And the estate agent might not take your questions too seriously, until you've viewed it.)

deejaybee

Thanks eddddy,

We are definitely going to view it, have booked it with EA, but wont be till end next week as its 200 miles away, will spend 3/4 days there, hopefully see a few properties. I take your chicken and egg point, just trying to get clued-up before i see it.

The £5K thing... i think i have seen in the news some volume house builders getting grief about unfair ground rent terms etc, and certain house builders allowing purchase of freehold to get the heat off them. I will try to find out who built them.

eddddy

deejaybee said:

The £5K thing... i think i have seen in the news some volume house builders getting grief about unfair ground rent terms etc, and certain house builders allowing purchase of freehold to get the heat off them. I will try to find out who built them.

Some developers and freeholders have 'volunteered' to remove escalating ground rent clauses (e.g. ground rents that double every 10 years) from leases, following pressure from the CMA.

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/cma-action-frees-leaseholders-from-costly-contract-terms
https://www.gov.uk/cma-cases/leasehold

Once those clauses are removed, it would make the freehold much cheaper to buy.


More generally, there are 2 routes to buying a freehold...

1. The freeholder and leaseholder informally agree a price between them
2. The leaseholder 'compulsorily purchases' the freehold (it's called 'statutory freehold enfranchisement')

So it would be interesting to know, for example, whether

• the freeholder suggested a price of £5k (as part of option 1 above)
• the leaseholder got an independent valuation for the 'compulsory purchase' - and the valuer said £5k (for option 2 above)
• or something else

If the ground rent isn't escalating (i.e. it's fixed at £250 for the full 999 years) - then £5k might be about right. But you'll still have to pay the service charges.

deejaybee

Thanks again Eddddy

The houses were built by Bellway, and having googled that company, i now have massive red flags flying.