Should I buy freehold?

J_forest

Hello,

I live in a maisonette, one of the four apartments in a property. The leasehold has 990 years left.

Now the landlord who still owns an apartment considers to offer freehold and other two neighbours are very keen. Can anyone advise the benefit of having the freehold? Is there any responsibility against it? I live on the top two floors. 

On the other hand, the landlord also considers to sell her apartment that is on the ground floor of mine. If I re-mortgage mine and buy it, can both properties be combined as one, i.e. semi-detached? Will I still be responsible to the other side of the property? I ask because one of the neighbours had a window put on their roof (without the landlord's permission) and the roof developed some kind of problem, now they are talking about a new roof！

Many thanks.

gwynlas

If the others are keen then you it would be beneficial to own a share of the freehold in order to have a say in future decisions regarding your building. Even if you purchase downstairs you will only own half the freehold so would still need permission from the remaing two to create a semi. This might also be against the local area plan as a loss of a residential property. Regarding roof windows installed already that is a matter for current freeholder.

eddddy

So standing in the road and looking at the building, I guess you mean the maisonettes are arranged like this:



If so, would you prefer it to be sold as 1 freehold with 4 leasehold maisonettes, or as 2 freeholds with 2 leasehold maisonettes each. Like this:



If all the leaseholders agree, you could ask the current freehold if they would split the title, and sell it as 2 freeholds.

DullGreyGuy

On the positive side, no greedy freeholder with rip off managing agent taking all your money. Hopefully little issues agreed that need the freeholders permission.

On the negative side, problems can be difficult to solve when shared freeholders dont agree on things and spill out of the AGM into daily relationships, some dont have a clue how to do these things so you end up with the place becoming run down with no sink fund etc then a big bill because things haven't been maintained. 

J_forest

eddddy said:

So standing in the road and looking at the building, I guess you mean the maisonettes are arranged like this:



If so, would you prefer it to be sold as 1 freehold with 4 leasehold maisonettes, or as 2 freeholds with 2 leasehold maisonettes each. Like this:



If all the leaseholders agree, you could ask the current freehold if they would split the title, and sell it as 2 freeholds.

Very precise drawing ^_^

All 4 maisonettes are in different sizes. Will the freehold price be different too?

J_forest

gwynlas said:

If the others are keen then you it would be beneficial to own a share of the freehold in order to have a say in future decisions regarding your building. Even if you purchase downstairs you will only own half the freehold so would still need permission from the remaing two to create a semi. This might also be against the local area plan as a loss of a residential property. Regarding roof windows installed already that is a matter for current freeholder.

There isn't any fund to maintain the building.  The landlord just charges ground rent and building insurance. She said that all leaseholders would have to deal with issues ourselves when I bought mine. I paid for the repair of the bay window and repointing. 

eddddy

J_forest said:

Very precise drawing ^_^

All 4 maisonettes are in different sizes. Will the freehold price be different too?

It sounds like you'd be doing an informal negotiation - so the prices would be whatever you agree.

You could agree to have the same prices for both freeholds, or you could agree to have different prices.


If you instructed a professional valuer to do a formal valuation - the value would depend on: Ground rent, Length of Lease and Market Value for each flat.

J_forest

DullGreyGuy said:

On the positive side, no greedy freeholder with rip off managing agent taking all your money. Hopefully little issues agreed that need the freeholders permission.

On the negative side, problems can be difficult to solve when shared freeholders dont agree on things and spill out of the AGM into daily relationships, some dont have a clue how to do these things so you end up with the place becoming run down with no sink fund etc then a big bill because things haven't been maintained. 

The landlord lives far away. Lately she suggests each holder pays £50 a month and let the property manage by an estate agent that would charge 40%. I don't quite get it as I am the most inexperienced one about this kind of things.

The property is over 100 years old. The roof top of both sides looks fine from the street, however I do find mould and have to use bleach once a while. Is it normal or it needs to be repaired?

J_forest

eddddy said:

J_forest said:

Very precise drawing ^_^

All 4 maisonettes are in different sizes. Will the freehold price be different too?

It sounds like you'd be doing an informal negotiation - so the prices would be whatever you agree.

You could agree to have the same prices for both freeholds, or you could agree to have different prices.


If you instructed a professional valuer to do a formal valuation - the value would depend on: Ground rent, Length of Lease and Market Value for each flat.

Would the market value of each flat affect the price of the price of the freehold? If so, can I refuse the freehold? 

eddddy

J_forest said:

Would the market value of each flat affect the price of the price of the freehold? If so, can I refuse the freehold? 

I don't really understand what you're asking - but maybe the following comments will help...


In the case you describe, the price of the freehold will be whatever the seller and the buyer(s) agree. For example...

• The seller and buyer(s) could agree on a price of £1 for the Freehold
• The seller and buyer(s) could agree on a price of £100,000 for the Freehold
• Or the seller and buyer(s) could agree on any other price for the Freehold

(But if you asked a professional valuer to value the freehold, they would take into account the market value of the flats.)

Nobody can force you to buy a freehold or a share of a freehold.

The seller can sell the freehold to whoever wants to buy it. (Subject to something called 'The Right of First Refusal').