Splitting titles for block of garages and CGT

TBG01

The £500 figure (which I'm assuming you pulled out of the air) is quickly rising with every post.

eddddy

Bartoni79 said:

... I would sell the garages but continue to own the forecourt land granting access. Is it better to sell the freehold or lease them? 

So the issues would include:

• every time a garage is sold / re-sold, you'd need the new owner to sign a 'Deed of Covenant' with you - where they agree to contribute 25% of maintenance costs of the forecourt

• each time maintenance or repair is required to the forecourt, you'd have to find a contractor, get a quote, etc - and send a bill for 25% each to the 4 garage owners. (And be prepared to take legal action if one of them refuses to pay.)

• Will the forecourt need weeding, leaf-sweeping, litter picking etc periodically? If so, you'll need to arrange that and send a bill for 25% each to the 4 garage owners. (And be prepared to take legal action if one of them refuses to pay.)

Plus you'd need to deal with issues raised by the garage owners like:

• they report a pothole in your forecourt and they want you to fix it

• they claim that a pothole in your forecourt has damaged their car's suspension, and they say they're going to sue you

• they say that somebody has fly-tipped on your forecourt, so they cannot access their garage - so they want you to clear it

• they say that another garage owner is parking on your forecourt, making access to their garage difficult - so they want you to stop the other garage owner doing it

• they say that a 'stranger' is periodically parking their van on your forecourt, so they cannot access their garage - so they want you to stop the stranger doing it

None of the above is particularly unusual - lots of land owners deal with that kind of stuff - but it needs thinking through, including the legal costs of getting that stuff all set-up.

Bartoni79 said:

I would be but I’d put a clause saying no dumping of material in forecourt unless there are other suggestions? 

It's easy to put a clause saying "no dumping of material on my forecourt" - just like it's easy for a council to say "no parking on double yellow lines". But people still park on double yellow lines.

So the real challenge is actually dealing with it, when somebody does dump material on your forecourt. 

• Even if you know who did it (e.g. one of the owners), what do you do if they refuse to remove the stuff.

• What if you suspect you know who did it, but they deny it?

• What if you have no idea who did it? It could be one of the owners, or it could be a stranger?

eddddy

....and you might want to include scope for a management fee (payable to you) in the Deed of Covenant.

Otherwise you will have all the responsibilities and hassle relating to the forecourt mentioned above, and you will not get paid for doing it.

And without scope for a management fee, the forecourt is likely to become your burden forever.  Nobody would ever buy it from you, because it would just give them hassle with no income.

Bartoni79

Thanks for the advice. I decided to not take this further as I saw a number of issues in the terms but the advice was very helpful 

ThisIsWeird

I know nothing about this, but if the idea had financial potential, could a solution to the freehold/leasehold conundrum be to give the freehold to the whole plot to one garage, and leaseholds to the other three? 

I'm thinking about the situation you often get with 'coach houses', where the freehold c-h owns one of the garages below them, and the other garages are owned leasehold by neighbouring properties, the c-h holding the FH.

The freeholder has the added responsibility of putting into place any insurance that may be required for all the garages, and enforcing any covenants (no alterations, no parking outwith the designated area, etc), but that would allow you to walk away after the sale and let it manage itself.

In theory.

eddddy

ThisIsWeird said:

I know nothing about this, but if the idea had financial potential, could a solution to the freehold/leasehold conundrum be to give the freehold to the whole plot to one garage, and leaseholds to the other three? 

It would be more usual to sell all 4 garages as leaseholds, and retain the freehold of the whole site.

Then, if the OP wants, they could sell the freehold. Either to a management company whose business is managing garages etc, or to an individual who wants a 'tiny business' on the side.


Selling one garage with the freehold of the whole site might be difficult - typically somebody will either want a garage to park their car, or they will want a 'tiny business'. It would be unusual to want both.