Compton Group - Offering Freehold for £800

dkl_uk

Looks like I'm one of many who will have been in a recent batch of purchases by Compton Group. My original Freeholder was Landmark Collections who I would pay £6 per annum to.

Just putting the feelers out to see if anyone has been through a Freehold purchase with them already and has any positive or negative memories to speak of?

On one hand, I will not be alive long enough to ever pay £800 in ground rent, but of course on the other hand, having no Leasehold in place means better selling prospects (even though the ground rent is only £6), and no worries about approvals for adaptations to the property I live in. Not that anyone is bothering with that on my road as far as I can tell.

I'm also curious; now that Compton Group own the Leasehold, are they in any way justified on tacking new fees or even increasing the current £6?

monkey-fingers

No, but.....
http://sheffieldtribune.co.uk/a-london-lawyer-bought-hundreds-of-sheffield-freeholds-then-the-very-aggressive-letters-arrived/

They could come after you for unauthorised works, or find all kinds of things wrong with your lease.

Like the previous poster on the next page, if this includes legal fees (which theirs did), grab it with both hands.

ExEstateAgent

As a leaseholder you own the lease. The lease is a bundle of paperwork that entitles you to live in the property for the term of the lease. 

You don't own the building or grounds. 

For £800 to own the building and ground I wouldn't hesitate. 

HardyRexion

I've had this offer from the same company. 

Over 900 years on lease and just £12 /year to pay. I feel the only way it benefits is if I intend to sell. 

eddddy

HardyRexion said:

I've had this offer from the same company. 

Over 900 years on lease and just £12 /year to pay. I feel the only way it benefits is if I intend to sell. 

The main benefit might be that buying the freehold releases you from some covenants (or rules).

e.g. Your lease might say things like:

• No alterations without consent
• No sub-letting without consent
• No running a business

And these covenants can be removed when you buy the freehold (but you should tell your solicitor to check that these types of covenants are being removed).

But is there an intermediate lease or headlease? If there is, there may be no point in buying the freehold.

HardyRexion said:

I feel the only way it benefits is if I intend to sell. 

Do you think it will make much difference when you sell?

A '900 year lease with £12 a year ground rent' vs 'Freehold' might not make too much difference to buyers. Especially if all the similar houses in the area have  '900 year lease with £12 a year ground rent'.

shauniebabe

Can I ask does this relate to abram, wigan?  If so we have had similar.  

artyboy

What a great business model from Compton. Buy up low ground rent freeholds in bulk for peanuts, send communications to leaseholders offering the freeholds at a huge margin (but still not excessive in absolute terms) along with all a good promotional letter of why it might be a good idea to take them up on it.

I bet they will get a decent take up, and probably don't even need a high conversion rate to be in the money here...

monkey-fingers

artyboy said:

What a great business model from Compton. Buy up low ground rent freeholds in bulk for peanuts, send communications to leaseholders offering the freeholds at a huge margin (but still not excessive in absolute terms) along with all a good promotional letter of why it might be a good idea to take them up on it.

I bet they will get a decent take up, and probably don't even need a high conversion rate to be in the money here...

And there's a problem with that?
It's keeping people employed. No-one is getting hurt. I think it's a great thing!

artyboy

monkey-fingers said:

artyboy said:

What a great business model from Compton. Buy up low ground rent freeholds in bulk for peanuts, send communications to leaseholders offering the freeholds at a huge margin (but still not excessive in absolute terms) along with all a good promotional letter of why it might be a good idea to take them up on it.

I bet they will get a decent take up, and probably don't even need a high conversion rate to be in the money here...

And there's a problem with that?
It's keeping people employed. No-one is getting hurt. I think it's a great thing!

And where did you infer from my post that I was being critical of Compton??

Pipthecat

I once owned a leasehold house which I was looking to extend.  The cost of having my extension approved by the leaseholder was almost half as much as buying out the lease hold, so I did the latter.

dkl_uk

Pipthecat said:

I once owned a leasehold house which I was looking to extend.  The cost of having my extension approved by the leaseholder was almost half as much as buying out the lease hold, so I did the latter.

To be honest, nobody on this street has ever communicated with the leaseholder, I can pretty much guarantee that. Almost every house had has an extension or modification of some sort. When I bought this one, the room between the front and back rooms and the wall to the kitchen had been exposed so it was all open plan. Not a mention of it during the purchase process.