Leasehold Enfranchisement (long post soz)

[hopeforthebestplanfortheworst]

Bought my leasehold house 10+ yrs ago, had a rubbish solicitor who's since been stuck off by the law society & didn't fully explain the key clauses & consequences in the lease. Lease has approx. 900 yrs remaining.

Previous occupants of 30+ yrs were never asked for ground rent (it's £2 / yr) & no knowledge of free/leaseholder. After ~7yrs here I put up an extension, against the lease rules but every other house has one here & I had bad advice (again) from the architect who said basically there was no one to tell so I'd be fine.

Approx 1yr after extn is up, the freehold & headlease is bought by a company in south wales. They start collecting rent. No problem. Then they start nitpicking thru the lease for extra income...

I've been told I have to insure through their nominated insurer, however having spoke to Lease Advisory Service I understand I can use Commonhold & Leasehold Reform Act 2002 Notice of Cover, S164, to use my own insurer even thought the company states on their website there is no legal way out of using their insurers despite government attempts to change the law. I'm nervous but their insurers want 250% what my existing ones want for renewal, the cover is less & I'm on a tight budget.

So I decided to buy the freehold & requested a price. Their initial searches showed up my extn and my file got passed to their legal team so they could cook up a retrospective charge for my build work. That was 6 months ago. I've heard nothing since except my acct is 'on hold'.

I believe I could wait indefinitely unless I formalise my request to buy the freehold by serving notice. I'm concerned the position of the retrospective building fee on the freehold price. Does it affect it? If I serve notice soon will buying the freehold negate the need to pay them for unauthorised work I had done before they were the freeholders? I'm worried they could try to charge a silly amount. Especially when I exercise my right to use my own insurer.

I've looked into the subject all day (feel awful, my kids are on their school hols and I'm doing this) and seems prices / advice vary. What's reasonable for conveyancing solicitors, valuation surveyors who do the negotiations, the freeholders valuation&solicitor cost??

How do I find an experienced & trustworthy surveyor in the area?

Does it matter if they're not local to me (the nearest I can find in this niche area are 20 miles away, possible ok one in b'ham 1-2 hrs away).

Head confused with all the jargon and worries. Thanks for reading & any advice / experience.

Oh and if my account is 'on hold' while they decide what to do about my unauthorised works, where do I stand in terms of them ordering me to use their insurer if they aren't sending me letters etc? I will use the Notice of Cover mentioned but does it relieve me of my obligations if they've suspended my account? If my account gets re-activated in a month or so and I'm with a different insurer (ie my current one) will this cause me problems?

It's so confusing and expensive. Leasehold never again.

Do you know which company previously owned the freehold? If so, check with Companies House to see if they had been struck off/wound up at the time you did your extension as that might mean the legal limbo that your home was in made it impossible for you to get the required permission and the new company could not reasonably ask for a payment for the alteration. I do think your best chance of advice is to get in touch with Lease again - they do reply to specific enquiries, I seem to remember them phoning up within a specified period when I had a query.

Regarding the fees you will have to pay, many freeholders will completely take the piss and there seems very little that you can do other than go to a tribunal which will mean time and more outlay.

Is it worth getting in touch with the firm that your solicitor belonged to and explaining that he never laid out the implications of buying leasehold and so failed in his duty of care?

Thanks for the reply. Unfortunately the whole practice of the solicitor was shut down & it was a standalone practice not part of a group. It had previously been part of a group but had been sold off I believe.

I still have no idea who held the freehold / headlease for all the preceeding years unfortunately.

The land registry should have records.

Really? I didn't know, I'll look into it, thanks.

Right, 4 quotes so far for chartered surveyors to act for me. Their advice & fees vary quite a bit.

One told me not to bother with a solicitor & isn't a member of RICS so he's been eliminated.

One is RICS but suggested he'd negotiate prior to serving notice as this'd be quicker but I doubt it as I've tried that already & freeholder seems unlikely to do anything unless forced at moment.

One is RICS (I think) but wants a small fortune compared to others.

One isn't RICS but LLB but his emailed fees seem steeper than what he gave the impression he'd charge when we spoke on the phone & also its a tiered rather than a set fee.

I have the additional issue of unauthorised work which they all have either no opinion or different opinions on!

Has anyone been through this & can recommend anyone? It's not a regulated area so I'm worried about choosing a cowboy (I have form when it comes to important decisions!)

If you go onto the Lease website you have access past judgments. You can type in either your freeholder's name or your local area and any decisions involving either of those searches will come through. You can then see if there were any surveyors/solicitors involved who were successful against your freeholder or who have been successful with similat claims locally and contact them.

What does the lease actually say about extensions, i doubt they could get you to pay anything.
Also, if the lease is 900 years left, the freehold should pretty much be free except for legal costs.
I would search for a solicitor with lease expertise on the law society website.

Most leases have a clause stating that there are to be no alterations without permission from the freeholder. The freeholder also gets to set legal/surveying fees (within reason) and these often roll in at several thousand even if there is no marriage value to account for.

lala most also state the freeholder cannot unreasonably withhold consent. There are no fees for an extension already up and built, assuming planning (if necessary) and building regs.
agree there will be fees for the freehold.

They can ask for a lot of money to "check" the paperwork and make a deed of variation so that future buyers know that the extension has freeholder consent. I agree it's unscrupulous and against the spirit of it but, in English law, the freeholder owns the house, not the leaseholder and the freeholder has a lot of room to cause trouble.

Presumably they could make you take down the extension? So I am not sure that is really"cooked up". You unlawfully put it up in circumstances where most people would not have done.

Not had a deed of variation mentioned before. I've been told the freeholders valuers & solicitor fees are only permitted to cover reasonable admin to check the extn is in keeping & safe. It has full planning permission. I've had figures in region of £400 mentioned to cover this from various surveyors regarding entering negotiations & their expected outcomes so I can budget.

Lala: Thanks for suggestion about searching the lease database for other outcomes against my freeholders.

I feel like ripping the "unauthorised work" down with my bare hands.