On average, how long does a leasehold delay the sale of a property?

pjs493

I'm in the process of selling a leasehold property as part of administering an estate. Probate has been granted and I am the executor. The management company is a big firm. Obviously I want the sale completed as quickly as possible, but what sort of time frames might I be looking at here?

propertyrental

pjs493 said:

but what sort of time frames might I be looking at here?

Between 1 and 20 weeks.

or do you mean 'average'? If so do you want the mid point between the 2 extremes (mean), or to take into account the volume of sales at each extreme (mode)?

AlexMac

My last three leasehold sales took only about 12-14 weeks from acceptance of offer to completion, but I had efficient Estate Agents, freeholders and conveyancing Solicitors.  A good EA will chase and report back; in one case, our EA was on first name terms with all the local solicitors (although that was on the Isle of Wight, with an almost village feel!) In two cases there was no chain or onward purchase involved, and in the third, we were also lucky in that the amazing EA who sold our leasehold flat in three days, before it even hit the websites, was also dealing with our purchase of a local freehold house. 

More importantly, in each case, the Freeholder was equally helpful and returned the buyers’ solicitors’ pre-sale enquiry responses immediately. This probably had something to do with the fact that all three were “shared freehold” (my preferred tenure) and in two cases, where we ran the Freehold Company ourselves rather than via a Managing Agent, I was responsible for doing these myself. I had all the data to hand,  I insisted on communication by email and so, returned things like the FPE1 ( freehold property enquiries forms) within 24 hours.  

Whereas I eventually walked away from one freehold purchase after about 25 weeks due to delays in responses caused by useless vendors, agents and freeholders. 

Let’s hope that yours are on the ball and that you manage the sale in the usual 4-5 months?  And at least you won’t get caught up in the current probate delays fiasco?

pjs493

There is no onward chain in my case as the property I’m buying is a second home not lived in for a while. I’m currently living in military accommodation with no rush to move out. My solicitor has estimated 10-12 weeks. We’re now three weeks into that. The leasehold is managed by the residents of the property I’m buying so I expect quick responses to leasehold related stuff as the current secretary is retired. 

The property I’m selling is also leasehold but with a commercial company. Having agreed the sale in February, I hoped to be further down the line by now. I didn’t put an offer in on the house I’m buying until April. So I had hoped to complete on that way before exchanging on the new place, especially as the tenant of the property I’m selling is buying off me so no chain from them or removals, etc.