Bought Shared Ownership in mid 2006 and ...

izoomzoom

we have never signed the lease agreement. In fact I am not even aware of a lease agreement (obviously for the share we don't own and pay rental on) being issued in our name.

Now, I assume this is issued by the HA, and I am quite happy to phone them up and point this out so that we can get it issued and signed etc etc, BUT surely my solicitor should have realised this, and should I rather 'innocently' ask them if they have a copy.

Whatever happens I really don't want to be paying the sol again - for something that should have been done when we originally made our purchase.

BTW the only reason I am concerned about this is because we will need to remortgage later this year, and the BS will no doubt require a copy and of course, at this point in time, I cannot produce this and don't want to cause unnecessary delays when the time comes.

Mac_Sami

You should have signed a lease for the share you own. Simple.

If not, now's a great time to talk to your solicitor to find out.

Richard_Webster

Unless this was some funny kind of Shared Ownership you would have bought a lease for 99/125 years of the property with a rent equivalent to a proportion of the normal HA rent on the percentage that you "don't own". Did you buy your share from the HA or from someone else who had bought it from the HA? If you had a mortgage there is no way your solicitors would have completed the purchase and used the mortgage money unless there was a lease. If you were not the first people to have a share in the proeprty you would not have had to sign the lease because it would already have existed and it would have been transferred to you.

Go to: http://www1.landregistry.gov.uk/ (Not any of the other sites that charge extra) and look for your address. You should find that there are both freehold and leasehold entries for that address. Order for £3 a copy of the leasehold entries and hopefully they will show you as the registered proprietors. It will give details of the lease made between the Housing Association and either you or a previous owner of the share. If there is no lease then you will have a concern - but try this first.

izoomzoom

There is a lease, because I remember looking at it - it was between the HA and the people we bought our share from.

I just assumed that we would have to sign a new lease with our names on it

Richard_Webster

I just assumed that we would have to sign a new lease with our names on it

No, you simply take a transfer of an existing lease.