LPE1 - Milton Keynes council refusing to fill out as the freeholder

Yella_Fella

I have a property that I've been trying to sell and its been in talks with a buyer/solicitor for nearly 4 months now.

To give some background, my property is a 1st floor apartment of a maisonette. My neighbour owns the ground floor apartment. I don't have to pay any maintenance fees/annual charges etc, and I just have building insurance to cover.

I never realised it was used to be a shared ownership though it has been stair cased to 100% which means full ownership. It is on a leasehold.

Right now Milton Keynes council, who are one of the owners of the freehold/leasehold have refused to fill out the LPE1 form because my property is not a shared ownership or is being managed by a manage company via the council.

They also refuse to get their legal team involved to write a letter to stipulate any terms or to say that I don't need to pay anything fees at all. This is all because, again, I my property is not shared ownership. They have already asked me not to contact their legal team as its something that needs to be dealt with by their 'Home ownership' team which deals with shared ownerships.

As they don't care about this, they have already also refused to hand over and transfer their name off the freehold/leasehold understandably.

At the moment it has gone back to a senior manager within the home ownership team to discuss as my property, at this time, is unsellable. The estate agent said the LPE1 needs to be sorted out as it will make it really difficult to sell. Even my own conveyancer solicitor has advised if it was me buying they will tell me to move on if MK council is that uncooperative.

I was asked if I could/would extend the lease which I can imagine to be a lot and its not like 999 years like most modern high rise flats. Let alone it could take up to a year to sort out.

I could ask the council to buy it back though that probably be a no... or sue, or is there anything else I can do to help keep this sale moving?

Has anyone else in Milton Keynes or anywhere else come across something like this regarding a leasehold with the council?

I'm at a loss, stressed and don't know what else to do in this weird scenario.

eddddy

This is a bit of a wild guess - but I wonder if using the term "LPE1" is causing confusion.

Milton Keynes Home Ownership Team call it a "Sell-on Pack" or "Seller Pack".  An administrator at the council might not be familiar with the term "LPE1".

Their "Sell-on pack" might not include an actual LPE1 form, but the pack should contain all the info that you would find on a LPE1 form.

MK council describe their "Sell-on Pack" on this web page - scroll down and click on "Selling Your Property"...
https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/housing/homeownership

Yella_Fella

eddddy said:

This is a bit of a wild guess - but I wonder if using the term "LPE1" is causing confusion.

Milton Keynes Home Ownership Team call it a "Sell-on Pack" or "Seller Pack".  An administrator at the council might not be familiar with the term "LPE1".

Their "Sell-on pack" might not include an actual LPE1 form, but the pack should contain all the info that you would find on a LPE1 form.

MK council describe their "Sell-on Pack" on this web page - scroll down and click on "Selling Your Property"...
https://www.milton-keynes.gov.uk/housing/homeownership

Yeah originally it was called a welcome pack that was asked for by my solicitor. I was told it was never needed because of my situation of a lease hold property but not shared ownership.

MK council do the LPE1 still as I've spoken to the Home Ownership officer of that area patch. I've seen the link as well though I never called/ever been referred to a seller pack. I'm expecting a call from them today to decide how I can proceed... as it stands I can't sell until what MK council decide.

I agree it doesn't help with the confusion of terminology used originally by the council and myself when the discussion was first raised.

eddddy

Yella_Fella said:

Yeah originally it was called a welcome pack that was asked for by my solicitor. I was told it was never needed because of my situation of a lease hold property but not shared ownership.

Judging by its name - a "Welcome Pack" will be what you get when you first buy a property. That's not what you need.

Based on your posts here and on Reddit, it sounds like there's been some huge misunderstandings.

Just tell the Housing Team that you want a "Sell-on Pack" as described on their website.


Don't mention a "LPE1" and don't mention a "Welcome Pack". 



If you look at the description of the "Sell-on Pack" below, it sounds like exactly what you need:

Yella_Fella

Thank you. Unfortunately they never called me back. Calling them is a nightmare as it is as all calls are triaged via their customer service team. There's no direct contact number for the person involved or the team.

I'll mention this sell on pack as per the website link. It makes sense and the miscommunication can't be any worse.