Buying a 2 storey flat and the freehold to building, lower 2 floors leased to someone

GregMcC

Hi guys,

Looking for a bit of advice. My fiancee and I are about to buy a flat, the top 2 floors of a 4 floor house, to which we get the freehold. There are 2 flats leased out below. I have checked with the leaseholder and he has said there is nothing in the lease regarding maintenance costs but that they have a gentleman's agreement and share a buildings insurance policy. No-one looks after the garden and there is no committee or organisation regarding repairs etc. I assume as freeholder we would be responsinle for the entirity of the the outside of the building. Is there a way to change this? Is it worth losing the freehold and seeting up a company to manage the freehold and sharing it with the leaseholders? What are the advantages/disadvantages of doing so. Does the current situation seem normal and is the freeholder ever able to change the lease?

Millions of questions, sorry about that but any advice would be welcome.

Cheers,

Greg.

EdInvestor

GregMcC wrote: »

I have checked with the leaseholder and he has said there is nothing in the lease regarding maintenance costs but that they have a gentleman's agreement and share a buildings insurance policy.

Step one is to get copies of all the leases from the vendor and closely study them.If they are not "full repairing leases" where the leaseholders are responsible for paying their share of the maintenance and insurance of the building, then no lender will give you a mortgage on the property and you should not buy it.

Check further with your solicitor and have a look at this website:

https://www.lease-advice.org.uk.

Doozergirl

Theoretically everything should be shared between the flats. The freeholder pays for nothing.

But leases without this clause are defective. I have bought property like this before and it didn't turn out to be an issue with the lender because the freeholder had employed a managing agent and things were running fine.

But you do need your solicitor to look over the leases properly and they will advise you. It's possibly better to wait to hear what they say before you pay out your mortgage lender's valuation fee.