Advice req'd re. Unregistered Freehold

SpamJam

In 1966 my parents bought a 3 bedroom house on a leasehold which expires in 2050. The annual ground rent is a nominal £4. My dad died in 2013 but in the preceding year he contacted a solicitor with a view to buying the freehold. This was never completed and I would now like to proceed in conjunction with my elderly mother, but have been advised that the property was never registered. My dad apparently had the deeds back from the solicitor but I have been unable to find them so far.

The problem is that the freeholder seems to have mislaid their deeds as well, so we may have to go through a lengthy process of registration (with statements, proof of occupation etc).

My questions are:

1) Can I register the property in my name as well as my mother's (she's nearly 93 and Power of Attorney is going through)?
2) Do we have any rights to claim the freehold in the sense that 'possession is 9/10 of the law'? My dad did extensive work on the house and it is now a 5 bedroom property with a garage and outbuildings.
3) Can the freeholder legally register the property and then refuse to sell us the freehold despite already agreeing to do so? I presume they would register the freehold and we would have to register the leasehold?

Thanks in advance for any helpful advice anyone can offer.

eddddy

SpamJam said:

1) Can I register the property in my name as well as my mother's (she's nearly 93 and Power of Attorney is going through)?

That sounds well dodgy - you get a Power of Attorney for your mother, and then transfer part ownership of the property from her to you, using the Power of Attorney.  (I'm no expert on Powers of Attorney, but that might look like misuse - which is potentially serious).


But moving on...

You can use a legal process called "statutory enfranchisement" to buy the freehold. But you have to have owned the lease for 2 years. If you transfer part ownership to yourself, that will probably start the clock again. So then you'll have to wait 2 years.

SpamJam said:

2) Do we have any rights to claim the freehold in the sense that 'possession is 9/10 of the law'? My dad did extensive work on the house and it is now a 5 bedroom property with a garage and outbuildings.

No. If you want to own the freehold, you have to buy it.

SpamJam said:

3) Can the freeholder legally register the property and then refuse to sell us the freehold despite already agreeing to do so?

Yes, if the freeholder has agreed to sell the freehold to you, it will be an "informal agreement". 

They can change any terms (e.g. increase the asking price), or decide not to sell at any time until contracts are signed.

But if you take the statutory route ("statutory enfranchisement"), generally the freeholder cannot refuse to sell you the freehold.

SpamJam

eddddy said:

SpamJam said:

1) Can I register the property in my name as well as my mother's (she's nearly 93 and Power of Attorney is going through)?

That sounds well dodgy - you get a Power of Attorney for your mother, and then transfer part ownership of the property from her to you, using the Power of Attorney.  (I'm no expert on Powers of Attorney, but that might look like misuse - which is potentially serious).


But moving on...

You can use a legal process called "statutory enfranchisement" to buy the freehold. But you have to have owned the lease for 2 years. If you transfer part ownership to yourself, that will probably start the clock again. So then you'll have to wait 2 years.

SpamJam said:

2) Do we have any rights to claim the freehold in the sense that 'possession is 9/10 of the law'? My dad did extensive work on the house and it is now a 5 bedroom property with a garage and outbuildings.

No. If you want to own the freehold, you have to buy it.

SpamJam said:

3) Can the freeholder legally register the property and then refuse to sell us the freehold despite already agreeing to do so?

Yes, if the freeholder has agreed to sell the freehold to you, it will be an "informal agreement". 

They can change any terms (e.g. increase the asking price), or decide not to sell at any time until contracts are signed.

But if you take the statutory route ("statutory enfranchisement"), generally the freeholder cannot refuse to sell you the freehold.

Thanks.

I'm not intending anything dodgy as I am already committed to putting my own money into buying the freehold and had heard something about the possibility of having my name added to the title deeds. Given the fact that both sets of deeds seem to be missing I'm particularly worried about where things would stand if my mum were to die before the property could be registered.

I'm going to spend most of my time tomorrow turning the house upside down in the hope I'll come across the deeds released to my dad.

"Statutory enfranchisement" seems something worth looking into. My (limited) understanding is that newly-registered freeholds have to be made available for leaseholders to buy. When my Mum dies she will be leaving the property to me in any case.

Irregardless of any POA and given the fact that both lease- & free- hold deeds are unregistered; how does "you have to have owned the lease for 2 years" affect "statutory entitlement"? It should be pretty easy to prove that our family have lived in the house for 55+ years, but how long (roughly) would it take to claim our entitlement to buy the freehold?

eddddy

With a Power of Attorney, you are only allowed to do things that benefit your mother.

I think you'll find it hard to convince a solicitor that transferring part of her property to you benefits your mother - it only really benefits you.


And as I say,

• if you transfer part of the property to you, that probably counts as change of ownership, so you would then have to wait 2 years before you could buy the freehold (by statutory enfranchisement).

• If you don't transfer part of the property to you, then your mother can probably start the process immediately to buy the freehold (using statutory enfranchisement).

You might use a conveyancing solicitor to transfer ownership, and a different 'landlord and tenant' or enfranchisement solicitor to buy the freehold.

A conveyancing solicitor might not warn you about the "2 year rule". So it's best to discuss your plans with an enfranchisement solicitor first. Once you've transferred ownership, it's too late, it can't be undone.

propertyrental

Well dodgy use of POA.

https://www.gov.uk/lasting-power-attorney-duties/property-financial-affairs

https://www.theguardian.com/money/2021/dec/26/fraudsters-are-using-power-of-attorney-rules-to-steal-peoples-homes