Loft conversion/lease issue

user1977

What exactly is the advice your solicitor has given to you (and the lender)? Your lender is relying on the solicitor to advise them about the lease, they don't form their own legal opinion about it.

eddddy

zakizzy25 said:

is it possible that if this is accepted by my mortgage lender can I still apply for a deed of variation /rectification in the future?

You mention that the flat is "share of freehold". That means you and your neighbour will jointly own the freehold.

Therefore you and your neighbour can jointly agree to vary the lease, if you both want to.

But you cannot force the neighbour to agree to vary your lease. The neighbour will get no benefit from agreeing. So the neighbour might decide they don't want to agree.

eddddy

zakizzy25 said:

the flat owner downstairs has been there for years he says he signed something years ago to do with the loft conversion 
 unfortunately my seller or he doesn’t have that information now

If you mean freeholder consent for the loft conversion....

It sounds like the seller and the neighbour are joint freeholders, so they can just sign a new consent document now. (Assuming the neighbour will agree to do that.)

Unless the lease says freeholder consent isn't required - but that would be unusual.


Has your solicitor asked about freeholder consent for the conversion?

Grumpy_chap

zakizzy25 said:

Hi thanks to everyone who has answered 
the flat owner downstairs has been there for years he says he signed something years ago to do with the loft conversion 
 unfortunately my seller or he doesn’t have that information now
my hope is that this lease is sufficient to my mortgage lender very small mortgage but mortgage all the same

IMO, simply satisfying a mortgage lender today is not the hurdle to meet here.
If there is a discrepancy in the deeds or an absent consent, the OP is worth pursuing for this to be formally resolved now.
There is no guarantee that, when the OP comes to sell, the flat owner downstairs will still be the flat owner downstairs, or that a future mortgage lender for a future prospective buyer might be more stringent (particularly for a higher LTV than the OP requires).

At present, this discrepancy / omission and any challenges belong to the vendor.  It is the vendor's problem to resolve.
In the future, any issues relating to this will be the OP's to resolve.

zakizzy25

Hi I am so sorry that I don’t understand what OP is?
or IMO? 

 are saying that it’s my solicitor has to be satisfied not my mortgage lender?

Grumpy_chap

zakizzy25 said:

Hi I am so sorry that I don’t understand what OP is?
or IMO? 

 are saying that it’s my solicitor has to be satisfied not my mortgage lender?

Sorry.
IMO = in my opinion
OP = original poster (@zakizzy25 for this thread)

propertyrental

your solicitor will be acting for and advising the mortguage  lender. Si if solicitor is satisfied, the lender will be satisfied.

But that is not really the issue. OK, you get your mortgage and buy the flat. 3 years later your neighbour sells ad a bolshie new neighbour moves in. You try to sell and your buyer raises this issue and new bolshie neighbour refuses to cooperate.

One solution is to get current neighbour to agree new leases, either before or after you buy. Current neighbour may or may not agree. Curruet neighbour may decide agreement gives you a bigger, more valuably, flat, so may want some money for his agreement.
And may want you to take on additional repair and maintenence costs under the new lease.

So my advice is to get it sorted before you buy.

I may have missed it, but I'm still not convinced your solicitor (and the lender's solicitor) has had the layout of the flat fully explained and the possible discrepancy highlighted. He's not seen the flat so cannot compare it with the lease.

zakizzy25

Hi 
and thanks to  all of you wise people for your advice
i will be speaking to my solicitor tomorrow 
I will ask him to get a document drawn up saying that the other owner has no interest in the loft or loft space 
get it witnessed and signed by seller and the other freeholder before we exchange 
do you think that is good enough? and like you have explained to me at the moment this is my sellers problem
if I leave it as it is it could become a big problem for me
if this all goes ahead I will instruct my solicitor to get the lease either varied or rectified after completion 
or could this all be done at the same time as completion?

zakizzy25

And if a deed of variation/rectification or a new lease altogether would be needed will that take months to get?
it’s a very small chain but I still would be surprised if any of us want to waits months for this to be dealt with
Any ideas how long any of the above would take to obtain 

Grumpy_chap

As to how the variation needs to be resolved, that is for your Solicitor to propose.
It is just, at the moment, it is not clear that your Solicitor understands that the current documents do not (may not) reflect reality.

If everyone is amenable, then the new lease / variation could be quick.
If someone challenges, or sees an opportunity to make some money, it may well take longer.  

Make sure all the costs for this are met by the vendor - no reason you should incur extra expense.

You may be very lucky, and your Solicitor explains and demonstrates they do understand the reality and can show you how the current documents reflect that.  Just a possibility.

EDIT - If this does fail, or the variation will be expensive / take a long time to resolve, do not think of it as locing your dream home, think of it as dodging a bullet.