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Buying Freehold House

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FIRSTTIMER
FIRSTTIMER Posts: 637 Forumite
in House buying, renting & selling
Hi,


What costs and price am I looking to pay to buy the freehold on my house.


Currently own a house £170k Leasehold 999 years since 1998 Ground Rent £25.


Is there any point? - Will it increase any value if some houses on the close are freehold and the rest aren't?

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  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 24,670 Forumite
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    I doubt it will increase the value of your house by much. It will cost £250-500, plus fees.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • eddddy
    eddddy Posts: 16,441 Forumite
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    You might want to buy the freehold to release you from some of the obligations of the lease.

    For example, your lease might say you need the freeholder's consent for alterations, and pay them a fee. If you buy the freehold, you wouldn't have to do that.
  • FIRSTTIMER
    FIRSTTIMER Posts: 637 Forumite
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    wow is that all the cost would be £500 max plus fees?
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 24,670 Forumite
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    FIRSTTIMER wrote: »
    wow is that all the cost would be £500 max plus fees?

    £25 a year at 5%.

    Unless there are increases built in that you haven't mentioned.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • zagubov
    zagubov Posts: 17,886 Forumite
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    Worth it simply to expand the pool of potential buyers should you wish to sell in the future.
    There is no honour to be had in not knowing a thing that can be known - Danny Baker
  • GDB2222
    GDB2222 Posts: 24,670 Forumite
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    zagubov wrote: »
    Worth it simply to expand the pool of potential buyers should you wish to sell in the future.

    Would a leasehold of that term put you off? I've never had a leasehold house, so maybe I'm missing a trick.
    No reliance should be placed on the above! Absolutely none, do you hear?
  • zagubov
    zagubov Posts: 17,886 Forumite
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    GDB2222 wrote: »
    Would a leasehold of that term put you off? I've never had a leasehold house, so maybe I'm missing a trick.

    I'd be worried that the mere fact that leasehold is mentioned in the context if a house would put many people off investigating further.
    There is no honour to be had in not knowing a thing that can be known - Danny Baker
  • alex_163163
    alex_163163 Posts: 310 Forumite
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    edited 11 March 2017 at 6:34PM
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    GDB2222 wrote: »
    Would a leasehold of that term put you off? I've never had a leasehold house, so maybe I'm missing a trick.

    I think it depends whether a prospective buyer gets so far to look into the terms of a lease, just in my opinion.
    With some of the horror stories I that have seen in the news recently about new build leasehold houses and people who are now trying to sell them finding themselves trapped due to ground rent increases that were not fully understood at the time of purchase, it would put some prospective viewers off right from the outset (even if those circumstances don't apply here).
    if I were scrolling through rightmove and saw that a house was listed as leasehold I wouldn't even consider looking at it, even if the photos looked amazing. So I would never get as far as to find out what the ground rent, lease length were etc.
    I know that may be a narrow sighted view, but I think others would also do the same.
    If you find out the freehold can be purchased at a reasonable price, I would do it for the reason the poster above said - to make it more attractive to future buyers if you ever wish to sell. It may not actually add much value, but will make it more saleable, in my opinion anyway.

    (Sorry that was a bit of a ramble!!)
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