OH MY, The Most Stunning Beautiful Property

Captain_Mainwaring_2

matt99b wrote: »

I agree that the EA has so far not said anything of any value, they even insisted that the "Freeholder is an old man who just owns the flat." - I thought the freeholder owns the land? He also said the vendor can't extend the lease on the flat, and that it would be up to us to do 2 years after we bought it, but then backtracked in the same conversation and said that the vendor can extend the lease and include that in the overall price. They also don't seem to know the procedure very well.

Do you have any idea who might be reliable to go to, for the purpose of finding out all the info we need specific to this flat and its leasehold contract, about extending the lease, reliable info about change of use about the shops below, ground rent, charges etc.?

Thanks for the help

As I said before, lift the deeds and see if the leaseholder and the freeholder are one and the same, and then see who owns the lease on the shop.

You need at least 50% of the leaseholders to agree to the purchase of the freehold, but as yet you don't know how big the freehold land is, it could be 5 shops and flats or maybe just yours, you don't even know if the freeholder hasn't assigned the leases to himself to prevent a freehold buy out.

It's a lot of money and the whole flat over shop caveat applies.
The only way to consider it would be if you bought the lease on the shop too and either used the premises for your own business or rented to a controlled business.

A fish and chip shop is still classed as a "noxious trade" and I certainly wouldn't want to be close to one , notwithstanding the herberts who may want to play the arcade game until closing time.

Captain_Mainwaring_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

No captain - I didn't say banned I said reported - some of your posts have been offensive how is refering to pu55y relavant to the OP's question- don't start on me - I won't take it.

The talking to EA was about procedure - re-read my post - I was referring to offers being bound it doesn't matter who the EA is paid by the should be able to give the OP advice about procedure. Me naive - you could not be farther from the truth!! However if you talk to one of the assitants in EA and ask them nicely whilst not disclosing your motives you will get a lot of info - although I suspect that you have not heard the term you catch more flies with honey!

Ask the assistant in the Estate Agent? most of them are spotty corsa merchants who failed the intelligence test to be a bloody Unigate milkman.

The OP is looking to spend 170K and you suggest they ask someone who has a beneficial interest in the sale going through?
I'm not quite as trusting as you and would have no second thoughts about paying a tenner to get the LR info.

JanCee

patchwork_cat wrote: »

Seriously I have tried to be measured in my responses and think that Captain needs reporting, but you really haven't a clue about property buying and yet you are shouting down others.

I have to disagree. You may not like the tone but the Captain is giving out some seriously good advice on this thread.

patchwork_cat

I am not disputing that, however some of his comments and posts are offensive and should not be tolerated.

We do not all have to agree to have a discussion, I agree that some EA assistants are useless, but I also think that the OP should have and still could find the answers to his very BASIC questions by sitting down and talking to them. Personally I would have found out the answers to the questions he is asking before even logging on to Rightmove and to sit down anonymously in an estate agents and say Hi I am a FTB how does it work? If I make an offer am I then legal obligated to complete etc. would have been useful.

I am surprised that people have the patience to answer some of the questions .

Millie's_Mum

Don't want to join in the handbag throwing particularly

One other thing for you to worry about OP, you say the shop below the flat is a Newsagents, Do you like being woken up at 4 in the morning?

matt99b

Jimuth wrote: »

£170K for a flat over a shop, next door to a chip shop?

Sorry OP - you need your head examining to say "this is the one" with the level of research you've done. Do you know how long it's been on the market?

Get some neutral advice and listen to it.

Do you live in London? You make it sound like £169k is a lot. It's actually cheap for a 3 bed property in London zone 4. To say it's presented well, with original beams and good external and internal appearance is nothing less than icing on top. It's not like the rest of the UK. We have struggled to find any 2 beds under 200K within zone 4. I don't think we're likely to find anything close for less. If necessary, we will wait until we're able to afford more, but we'll consider this thoroughly in the meantime.

It does look like its getting a bit complicated with so much to consider, and the more I read about leaseholds, the more complex it gets (intermediary leaseholders, intermediary freeholders of the same plot of land?!). I just read on leaseadvice.org, that even with a lease extension, the land owner has the right to demolish your flat at the end of the old (current) lease!

We are listening to everyone's neutral advice on here and taking it all into account.

Thanks again

matt99b

Captain_Mainwaring wrote: »

As I said before, lift the deeds and see if the leaseholder and the freeholder are one and the same, and then see who owns the lease on the shop.

Thanks for that - I'm doing that now.. is this the best place to do it? http://www.landsearch.net/services.asp

Captain_Mainwaring_2

patchwork_cat wrote: »

I am not disputing that, however some of his comments and posts are offensive and should not be tolerated.

We do not all have to agree to have a discussion, I agree that some EA assistants are useless, but I also think that the OP should have and still could find the answers to his very BASIC questions by sitting down and talking to them. Personally I would have found out the answers to the questions he is asking before even logging on to Rightmove and to sit down anonymously in an estate agents and say Hi I am a FTB how does it work? If I make an offer am I then legal obligated to complete etc. would have been useful.

I am surprised that people have the patience to answer some of the questions .

Well put your foot down and don't tolerate them then.

I find you painfully boring but there we go.


Oh yeh, BASIC questions, 170K's worth, they will tell the OP what they think he wants to hear, that much has been determined from his last posts.


The OP has probably got the idea about believing nothing anybody tells him and only half believing anything he sees.

Better the OP get's the idea a bit on the smart side rather than buy a flat whose only benefit is a endless supply of "crispy bits".

Captain_Mainwaring_2

matt99b wrote: »

Thanks for that - I'm doing that now.. is this the best place to do it? http://www.landsearch.net/services.asp

No, go to http://www.landregisteronline.gov.uk/ search the address and you will see a freehold and maybe two leaseholds.

Why don't you post the EA link for the place? You have nothing to lose, I for one can't stand chips.

trudiha

matt99b wrote: »

I agree that the EA has so far not said anything of any value, they even insisted that the "Freeholder is an old man who just owns the flat." - I thought the freeholder owns the land? He also said the vendor can't extend the lease on the flat, and that it would be up to us to do 2 years after we bought it, but then backtracked in the same conversation and said that the vendor can extend the lease and include that in the overall price. They also don't seem to know the procedure very well.

Do you have any idea who might be reliable to go to, for the purpose of finding out all the info we need specific to this flat and its leasehold contract, about extending the lease, reliable info about change of use about the shops below, ground rent, charges etc.?

Thanks for the help

Most EA are mostly awful; occasionally you will come across one both willing and able to explain things but it's not something to be relied on. If you do really want this flat after you've considered all of the advice you've been given the first thing you have to do is make an offer on it, before you do this you should have a look at what comparable properties have sold for recently, this information is available on Rightmove.

No matter what the EA is telling you, there won't be a large group of people desperate to buy this flat, the markets dead and no matter how much you like it, the position isn't very desirable for most people. From my reading of this forum most folks are claiming agreed selling prices of between 5% and 25% off the asking price. You should see if you can out do them. Most negotiation is about silence, when your first offer gets turned down, tell the EA you are going to think about your position. Wait for them to call you back.

Before you even start to discuss your offer makes sure that the EA is aware that you have a large deposit, a mortgage agreement and are proceedable.

Once you've had your offer accepted find a good solicitor, when you are buying a leasehold flat deciding on your conveyancer based on price is a big mistake. Try and get someone who is happy to talk through the whole process with you, who has experience of dealing with leasehold properties and will work on a no sale no fee basis.

If at any point this solicitor, who is working for YOU, tells you that the flat/lease is a lemon, be ready to walk away.