Should I purchase this ground rent waiver?

[undecidedanduncertain]

I own a leasehold flat in a large block. A new landlord has bought the freehold of the block. In return for the leaseholders accepting the sale (and not blocking/delaying it by trying to exercise our Right to Buy), the new freeholder agreed to extend our leases (from 125 to 999 years) at no charge (other than legal/admin).

That's a no-brainer, and I'm going ahead with that.

However, we can also buy a Ground Rend Waiver lease variation.

In exchange for paying a figure of 25 x annual ground rent, the lease will be altered so that we never have to pay ground rent again. It is all above board, proper solicitors etc. so I'm not worried about that aspect. But I can't decide whether I should do it or not.

For information -

• The annual ground rent is £600, so the price of buying it out would be £15,000. I have the money, and wouldn't be digging into essential savings or anything like that - only very long-term ones.
• I currently rent out the flat so would lose the benefit of the ground rent being a tax-deductible expense each year. However my accountant says the £15,000 would be set against capital gains tax when it comes to sale, so I would then recoup it.
• I don't envisage selling the flat. I may end up living there myself after retirement (at least 20 years away) and I would like to pass it on to the DC (though they might then choose to sell it obviously).

Any considered opinions?

hopeful bump

last attempt in case any knowledgeable bods are browsing MN this morning!

Haggle. The cost of buying the freehold may be less than 25 years ground rent. That does seem very excessive. Especially as your lease hasn't gone below 80 years. And if you want to move in less than 25 years you've paid far more than you need to.

Haggling isn't an option. There are several hundred flats in the block, and this deal (extension of leasehold + opportunity to buy ground rent waiver) was negotiated by the Owner's Association on behalf of all the flats. Our side of the bargain was to not collectively try and buy the freehold (which we had the right to try and do).

In practice, we couldn't buy the freehold - price was set at £8.5million, and we couldn't raise enough money to do it.

So it's either take the deal or don't take it. I agree, it is expensive. But I will get the money back against Capital Gains if I sell, and it would potentially be a benefit I'm passing on to my children (not paying ground rent)