LEASEHOLD Help needed!!!

andy661

Hi all,

wondering if anyone could help me here, my wife and i are in the process of buying a flat which has a 121 year lease... this is a top floor flat and we have been told quite categorically by the estate agents that the loft space is included... problem being is that i cannot find any reference to it in the property report by the solicitor .

he says he will look into it for me again but is doubtfull as to if it is included... looking back at the original advertisement it states:-

Hall'L' shaped. Entry phone. 'Dimplex' heater. Cloaks cupboard housing electric meter and trip switches. Access to roof space. 'Heatrae Sadia Megaflo High Efficiency' water tank with immersion heater.

looking on the web i have come up with the following definitions of access:-

access
the right to enter
the right to obtain or make use of or take advantage of something (as services or membership)

So in this situation, i would like to know what i can do if my solicitor comes back and says it isn't included???

Many thanks for any info

Regards
Andy

KiKi

Don't rely on the estate agent, and don't go by the description of the flat.

The only way you can know this categorically is if it's in the lease for that specific flat which will outline your areas of ownership - your solicitor must be able to access that.

It depends whether or not you really want this flat, and whether you bought it or not for the roof space. Unless you have it in writing from the EA that the loft space is included, you don't really have grounds to go back to them on it if it's not included. Plus, there's nothing the EA can do about it; the lease is set and could only be changed if the freeholder agreed which would incur costs to you.

HTH
KiKi

chappers

Usually the loft space would belong to the flat as it is in it's current state as storage, what you can do to that space with say regards to converting it would be a different matter, modifying it's construction and messing about with the roof would usually require the permission of the freeholder,probably a renegotiation of the lease and as KiKi said this would incur costs, you may then also find yourselves soley responsible for the upkeep of the roof with responsibilties to the other leaseholders.