Backdated ground rent - can they?

[whymewhynow]

I bought a flat last year with a 999 yesr lease but an absent freeholder. A few months later, the freeholder turns up or someone else acquires the freehold, I'm not sure which. I have just received a bill for yhe past seven yeard groundcrent even though I've owned the glat gor less than 22 months - can the freeholder do this?

flat for less than 12 months

They can claim for 6 years. Talk to the conveyancers you used and ask them what was said about ground rent in the pre sale enquiries they made of the vendor. They should have disclosed not being asked to pay ground rent (assuming your conveyancers asked).

www.lease-advice.org/information/faqs/faq.asp?item=178

Any notice must comply with s166 of the Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Act 2002.

www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2002/15/section/166

So he can bill me even if I didn't own the first at that time . It doesn't seem right.

If you look back at your conveyancing documentation, you will find, most likely, that your solicitor asked whether payment of ground rent was up-to-date.
In all likelihood your sellers will have replied that they have not been asked for ground rent for some time. It is likely therefore that your solicitor has warned you that you may be asked for ground rent, and that upto 6 months worth of arrears can be claimed.

It might be worthwhile therefore taking out your file of papers from the time of the purchase to make sure that you wereproperly advised.

(I think Coll. might have meant 6 years above, not 6 months)

Do check the papers from when you bought as the issue would have been looked at . Also if your lawyer did you a report on title - that might well talk about this issue too. See what it said.

Thanks Lotus. You spotted my deliberate mistake!

All good advice above. Your solicitor should have picked up this issue as it would have figured in the standard enquiries before contract. I have had close relatives caught out on this before with a commercial ground rent. It was negligence on the solicitors part in that case, so pull all your original paperwork and correspondence out and review it, to figure next steps.

Might you have an indemnity policy against enforcement of retrospective ground rent by absent freeholder ? I doubt it has been sold without the leaseholders having been given the opportunity to buy. How much is it ?

Ah we had a ground rent problem. The key information is what was known/done/shared by your solicitor when you bought the property.

Whenever I have bought a freehold property the solicitor has asked the seller for proof of ground rent payments covering the last six years and if it can't be proven then they have asked the seller for enough money to cover 6 years of ground rent. The money should be held on account in case the new purchaser gets a demand for backdated ground rent. Ground rent is usually a very small sum though unless we are talking about a newish build property.

Leashold, not freehold.