TA7 Form and Share of Freehold

pocketshepherd

Hi

I'm a first time buyer and have been reading the forum for guidance and reassurance and it's proved to be a useful resource but I have ongoing queries regarding share of freehold that appear to be difficult to find answers for.

This for a 1 bedroom flat in a building with another flat.

I've received the contract management pack and on the TA7 Form it has as follows:

Who owns the freehold?

(a) A person or company that is not controlled by the tenants

(b) A person or company that the tenants control

2.3 Who is responsible for managing the building?

(a) The freeholder

(b) The headleaseholder

(c) A management company named in the lease of the

property

The vendors have answered (a) for both but I've checked on the Land Registry and they're named on the Freehold Title register along with a third person. I know the leasehold is separate but does this information need to be accurate on the TA7? 

They've also answered (b) for the following while later answering that the seller is responsible for building insurance:

Please supply a copy of the buildings insurance policy:

(a) arranged by the seller and a receipt for payment of the

last premium, or

(b) arranged by the landlord or management company and

the schedule for the current year

Does this sound right? Thanks,

eddddy

Your post is a bit hard to follow in places. Are you saying that the set-up is as follows:

The leasehold of flat 1 is owned by Mr A
The leasehold of flat 2 is owned by Mr B
The freehold of the building is jointly owned by Mr A and Mr B

If so, that would be a fairly standard set-up for a "share of freehold".

• In that case, I'd guess the best answer to "2.1 Who owns the freehold?" would have been  "(b) A person or company that the tenants control" 

• The answer to "2.3 Who is responsible for managing the building?" is probably "(a) The freeholder" (It's unlikely, but possible, that there would be "(c) A management company named in the lease of the property")

The lease would confirm who is responsible for buildings insurance - either each leaseholder is responsible for insuring half the building (i.e. 2 policies in total) - or the freeholders are responsible for insuring the whole building (i.e. one policy).

Your solicitor will be checking these things, but you can ask for clarification, if you want. I'm not sure if a solicitor would insist on a corrected TA7 from the seller, as the info you mention is all specified in the lease. 




Edit to add...
I've assumed that you're familiar with the terminology, but just in case...

• The freeholder is the same as the landlord (in this case)
• The leaseholder is the same as the tenant

user1977

If you know what the answers really are, why does it matter whether the seller is any good at answering questions on the form?

Safersurfer

I am having the same issue filling in the form from a sellers perspective (share of freehold).

The people at the Law Society who designed the form are total idiots, as the forms do not recognise 'share of freehold' as a tenure (even though this applies to hundreds of thousands of people) - you have to complete it EITHER as a leaseholder of a freeholder! It is extremely confusing.

I wasn't sure how to answer that first question either, so I suspect your seller just got confused. I am a freeholder, but we also set up a company to manage the freehold. 

But the wording says:

'A Right to Manage company set up by the tenants under statutory rights'

This wasn't the case with us, we just bought the freehold when it went up for sale. We didn't exercise any statutory rights.

So your answer is: the question is badly worded (you'd think lawyers would know better) and the form extremely confusing to complete for anyone who has share of freehold. Your seller was as bamboozled by the questions as I was.

eddddy

Safersurfer said:

The people at the Law Society who designed the form are total idiots, as the forms do not recognise 'share of freehold' as a tenure (even though this applies to hundreds of thousands of people) - you have to complete it EITHER as a leaseholder of a freeholder! It is extremely confusing.

'Share of Freehold' isn't really a tenure - it's a slightly confusing term that's used by estate agents.

As you probably realise, it means you own 2 things.

• 1) You own a leasehold flat

• 2) You jointly own a freehold building - that contains a number of flats

So you fill in the TA7 form as a leaseholder, and answer questions about your leasehold flat.

And you and/or your joint freeholders fill in the LPE1 form as joint freeholders.

Safersurfer said:

But the wording says:

'A Right to Manage company set up by the tenants under statutory rights'

This wasn't the case with us, we just bought the freehold when it went up for sale. We didn't exercise any statutory rights.

So based on what you say, the answer is 'No'.


(Because you don't have a Right To Manage company set up by the tenants under statutory rights specified in The Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002

See: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/part/2/chapter/1)