Removing "no alterations" clause from Lease when buying a newly share of freehold property

Alanisakiwi

Hi, 

Thanks in advance for your consideration of this.

I'm looking to buy a property that is currently a Leasehold, but as part of the sale, is behind converted into a Share of Freehold (with the Leasehold remaining) with the upstairs flat.  

Within the Lease, there is a clause that effectively says "I am not permitted to make any alternations or additions to the flat". 

Which is understandable for any Leasehold. However, as I also acquiring the Share of Freehold, I've asked that this be taken out. 

Should I one day which to add an extension to the property, as the clause is worded, it looks like I wouldnt be able to do this, even if I owned the Share of Freehold.

Has anyone come across this? Or could advise whether or not this clause can be taken out? 

I note that the Deed of Surrender for the Lease is between the current Freeholder and I, and the Freeholder is exiting, so shouldnt care if a variation to the Deed of Surrender included the removal of this clause. 

Thanks again. 

propertyrental

Provided all the other joint freeholders agree this should be no problem.

But will they.....?

Alanisakiwi

propertyrental said:

Provided all the other joint freeholders agree this should be no problem.

But will they.....?

Thanks for this... I dont see how they other (soon to be) joint freeholder is involved? The Deed of Surrender for the Lease is between the current freeholder (who holds the full freehold) and me only. The soon to be joint freeholder isnt a freeholder yet, and isnt party to the Lease contract that is relevant. 

If this makes sense?

eddddy

There are some considerations/issues which might arise, including:

• Both leases probably need to mirror each other - so both leases would need to be changed.

• The other 'soon-to-be joint freeholder' / 'soon-to-be leaseholder' (and their solicitor) might be alarmed if you want to be allowed to make alterations without needing consent from both joint freeholders.

• (You might want to make alterations which impact the structure of the building, or negatively impact the other flat in some way.)

• (Similarly, your neighbour might want to make alterations which affect the structure of the building, or negatively impact you. So perhaps you would want to be involved in granting consent.)

You mention building an extension. That's often very complicated with a flat. For example...

• Will the external walls be demised to you? Or will they belong to the joint freeholders? (As you'll probably have to cut holes in them)

• Will the land you want to extend onto be demised to you? Or will you only have consent to access it?

• Depending on what the leases say about insurance, repairs, maintenance etc - it might add a chunk of extra complexity.

You might find that the only solution is to negotiate an agreement with the other joint freeholder anyway.

Perhaps you should discuss this with your solicitor, if it's an important requirement for you.

BarelySentientAI

Perfectly normal that owning a share of the freehold doesn't give you unilateral rights to change the lease or do what you like with the property.  The clue is in the term "share".

The freeholders could agree to vary - so at the moment the sole freeholder could - and then after the split any future changes would need to be agreed by [you and them] and subsequently [you and other flat owner] according to how the freehold documents are arranged.

There's a lot of misconception about share of freehold.  Many people (and I don't know whether you're included in this or not) interpret it as "I own the freehold for my flat, my neighbour owns the freehold for theirs", which isn't true.  You will both be part-owners of the whole freehold (either as individual part-owners or by owning a share in the company that owns the freehold), and thus anything that the lease requires of the freeholder, any split of ownership, common areas, etc, or anything the lessee requests from the freeholder, still happens like a "traditional" leasehold/freehold arrangement.

RHemmings

Over and above the legal situation which is certainly complicated, it's going to be helpful to maintain a good working relationship with the other co-freeholder into the future. Trying to do something without the agreement of the other co-freeholder, even if it was legally possible, would still be a bad idea in my opinion as it could adversely affect the relationship.