Buying the freehold on our home

[Nutininutter]

Our home is over 100 years old, it was built by 2 sisters who pooled their money together for a plot to built 2 separate houses (semidetached) and got their father to sort the deeds (a legal requirement of their day), the older sister technically owned the freehold, both women have since died and our neighbour owns the freehold so we technically lease (we only found this out a few days before completion, very pregnant and just wanted to move in). We would like to buy the lease off the neighbour (we get on relatively well)- has anyone done this?

was it costly?

will it be a nightmare?

Currently the neighbour asks for nothing but it states in our deeds that we should pay £6 informally a year.

I think you need to ask a Solicitor. How much it would cost to buy the freehold will depend on many factors. Given the unique arrangement you have described I would be interested if there is a lease period or if it's a rolling indefinite lease which would be unusual.

Thank you. So the lease was for 999 years from 1934.

We have all of the original documents but it’s so repetitive and confusing that it doesn’t actually specify who owns the actual lease, it said it was originally owned by ‘The lord of the manor’ (the 2 stand alone semi detached houses are set in the grounds of the original manor which has now been knocked down). Upon reading everything I don’t actually understand why my neighbour thinks he owns the ‘freehold’ actually (I’ve just had a read through it all now to answer your question re. Age of lease).

Who are you supposed to pay the £6 to? That would usually be who owns the freehold. I think you need to go back to the Solicitor who did your conveyancing.

If the leasehold is 999 years from 1934 why do you feel the need to buy the freehold? This is in many, many generations time.