Leasehold maisonette - Upper owns lower freehold and vice versa? Quick explanation please?

[pippop1]

I'm seeing a 1st floor maisonette tomorrow via an estate agent with a view to buying it. It has it's own garden and parking space.

The agent told me that there are 94 years left on the lease but it's very easy to extend as the person on the ground floor owns the freehold to the upper maisonette and you own his freehold so you just agree to extend each others and it shouldn't cost anything (except solicitors admin fees I guess).

I've never heard of this situation before and I'm not sure I understand it. The agent said that it wasn't the same as Share of Freehold. Does it have a different name?

There are only two maisonettes in this block, one upper and one on the ground floor. Can anyone explain any more please?

Thank you.

I have never heard of this situation either. I wonder if the estate agent really knows what he is talking about. I am also about it not costing anything to extend the lease. Surely there would be Land Registry fees?

I lived in a place once where there were two flats and the freeholders also owned and lived in one of the flats. Maybe its that kind of scenario.

If you are interested in the flat, I would be asking for a copy of the lease and getting a solicitor to look it over before taking things any further.

I have never heard of this situation either. I wonder if the estate agent really knows what he is talking about. I am also about it not costing anything to extend the lease. Surely there would be Land Registry fees?

I lived in a place once where there were two flats and the freeholders also owned and lived in one of the flats. Maybe its that kind of scenario.

If you are interested in the flat, I would be asking for a copy of the lease and getting a solicitor to look it over before taking things any further.

Sorry about the double post, my phone is misbehaving.

Thanks. It sounded odd to me too.

The current owner will be showing us round so perhaps she will explain it to me in words of one syllable .

I might not like it of course and then it's academic about the Freehold/leasehold situation.

Well, I did some very deep Googling and found something called a Tyneside Lease which seems to be what it is. This maisonette is a long way from there though (Essex).

I'm still not sure I get it but at least it seems to be a real thing and not the rantings of an estate agent.

I was just about to ask if you were in Newcastle until I read you last post! There are lots of "Tyneside flats" that have that set up and it's seen as totally normal there. There's a good explanation here

It can be hard to get a mortgage on these

It's really common up here (NE) and it's not difficult to get a mortgage on them as otherwise nearly half of Newcastles housing stock would be un-mortgageable but some lenders don't like them.
They are called crossover leases although they are commonly known as Tyneside leases.
It's more unusual to see them outside of the NE but ultimately it's quite a fair way of owning these types of flats. As you are equally beholden to each other and are usually set up so you have equal responsibility for the building fabric.
You will need to make sure your solicitor understands crossover leases though as not all do.

Made an offer on it as it was lovely. It sounds an interesting way of going about the problem that is Leasehold. Maybe a builder from the NE built the estate that it's on?

we've been looking a long time and I thought a maisonette might be simple. Compared to the short and longer lease things I've been looking at.

Thank you everyone. I thought I'd got my head around understanding the differences between leasehold and freehold and share of freehold and now another one!