Why would a title leasehold be only Good when there is a present freeholder?

Grrrargh

Thank you for your time. It's my first time dealing with purchasing a leasehold house so please excuse my naivety.

Our solicitors have said they don't understand why the land registry has only given this a Good title and not an Absolute when the freeholder is still present. Apparently the now deceased house owner was approached to see if they would like to purchase it a few years ago. It is unsure if they did. It seems they had lived there for over 30 years but only this march when the property was put up as a probate sale was the Good title given.

Our solicitors have of course questioned this and the sellers solicitors are saying it's fine. However ours is adamant its inferior and it needs to be investigated further.

Has anyone had experience with something similar and if so did you find out the cause, what was the outcome?

Thank you!

Mark_d

How do you know the freeholder is present, when you don't know if the deceased purchased the freehold (or a share thereof)?

Grrrargh

Hi! I just had a read of the email sent to me again and it says the head lease and the freehold titles are both registered. So the solicitors are concerned as to why the Land Registry did not grant Absolute title. They say usually the Land Registry will only grant a Good Leasehold title where there is no evidence of the freehold.  I trust the Solicitors to get on with it but I'm just wondering if anyone had experienced something similar to calm the nerves,
Thank you.

Grrrargh

P.s The information about the deceased being approached to buy the freehold was just noted by the sellers in the information pack. They don't have anything to back this up. Thank you 😊

eddddy

Grrrargh said:

Our solicitors have said they don't understand why the land registry has only given this a Good title and not an Absolute when the freeholder is still present. Apparently the now deceased house owner was approached to see if they would like to purchase it a few years ago. It is unsure if they did. 

Grrrargh said:

I just had a read of the email sent to me again and it says the head lease and the freehold titles are both registered. 

I know this isn't what you're asking, but...

I assume you mean the now deceased owner may/may not have informally bought the freehold from the freeholder.

If there is a head lease, as far as I can see, buying the freehold informally from the freeholder is pretty much pointless. The house is still leasehold, and all the terms of the head lease still apply.


(But this isn't the case if the freehold is bought using the statutory process - called 'enfranchisement' - instead of buying informally. That route removes the head lease.)

Grrrargh

That's helpful to know actually thank you. We really wanted this to be our final home, so we're just nervous if we go ahead we might end up be pushed out in the future. I don't fully understand it all but I'm getting there with a bit of research