Buying the freehold of a long term lease

Ftb2019_3

Anybody done it or have any advice? 

Live in a semi that has around 910 years remaining on the lease at £6.15 a year and can't be increased.

Been here over 2 years now and haven't heard anything from the freeholder since a few weeks after we moved in. Its urbanpoint property management.

Any idea what a likely cost would be to purchase it and will they try to bill me for even having the conversation/correspondence?

Richard1212

Why bother at all ??????
It will make no difference to any aspect except to cost you nugatory outlay of money.

user1977

Richard1212 said:

Why bother at all ??????
It will make no difference to any aspect except to cost you nugatory outlay of money.

If nothing else it saves the additional legal fees which conveyancers generally charge for any sale or remortgage involving leasehold properties, and means that the sort of buyers who would run away screaming from a leasehold property (even the most benign ones) aren't deterred.

ThisIsWeird

No idea of likely cost, but aren't there ballpark calculators for such a thing?
I can't see any harm in asking, and the question itself shouldn't cost anything. They may, tho', say it'll require a land surveyor/ valuator/whatevs to arrive at the actual figure, and that you would be liable for this cost. So I'd definitely want to have a darned good idea before going any further in case it's unlikely to be worth it.
But, I'd def pursue this. FH over LH every time. Emotively and practically.
Do you have a figure in your own mind that you would be happy with?
Worth acting in concert with your neighb? The FH might be happier to get shot of it all, rather than thinking 'what's the point when I still need to keep an eye on the other half'?

eddddy

Ftb2019_3 said:

Any idea what a likely cost would be to purchase it and will they try to bill me for even having the conversation/correspondence?

In simple terms, there are 2 ways of buying the freehold...

1. "Statutory Enfranchisement" - you typically have the legal right to compulsorily purchase the freehold
2. Informal negotiation

With statutory enfranchisement...

The price is calculated by a legal formula - it would probably be about £100 to £150. But you'd probably have legal/valuation fees of maybe £1k to £2k.


With informal negotiation...

There are no rules. It's whatever price you and your freeholder can agree on. Legal fees typically work out much lower - but freeholders typically ask for a much higher price.

As there are "no rules", your freeholder can choose to charge you in advance for proposing a price (and/or charge you for anything else they choose).

But you are equally free to negotiate and/or propose a price and terms.

ThisIsWeird

Good info, Eddddy.

Can the 'Statutory' be enforced? And would you advise the OP acts with the other semi?

Cheers.

eddddy

ThisIsWeird said:

Can the 'Statutory' be enforced?

Assuming that

• the house and lease are eligible (most houses and leases are)
• the leaseholder is eligible (they have to have owned the lease for at least 2 years)
• the leaseholder follows the legal process correctly (some of the rules are very specific)

... then the freeholder cannot stop the leaseholder buying the freehold - using "statutory enfranchisement"

Full eligibility details are here: https://www.lease-advice.org/advice-guide/houses-qualification-valuation/


But the "informal" route is completely voluntary. The freeholder can completely ignore an informal approach, if they want.

ThisIsWeird said:

And would you advise the OP acts with the other semi?

Perhaps the only reason for doing that would be to get a "bulk deal" from a solicitor.

e.g. If the OP can find 1 or 2 or 3 or 5 or 10 other people in the street who all want to buy their freehold at the same time (from the same freeholder), a solicitor (and valuer) might charge them a lower fee each.


Or perhaps if a whole bunch of leaseholders informally approached the freeholder at the same time, the freeholder might accept a lower price for each house.