Buying my share of flat's freehold

[lazydaisychain]

The flat I bought 25 yrs ago now only has 60 yrs left on the lease. The woman who owns the other flat in the house somehow managed to buy the freehold, without my knowledge, after she had moved elsewhere in 2007 (prior to this the flat had had an 'absent landlord'. I would now like to buy 'my share' of the freehold. a) I was never given the chance to buy the freehold b) how can she have bought the f/h without my knowledge/consent c) when she did buyit, she did not send me any papers/or even her new address. Do I have a right to buy my share of the f/hold? I have a solicitor lined up... The flat is worth c. 200k. Any advice warmly welcomed!! Thank you.

You probably and and should. The longer you delay the more it will cost. The process is reasonably clear and the process will be outlined on the Government website. There is also an organisation, I think it was called 'lease' which provided good, free, advice to leaseholders. You can do much of it yourself though you will need to use a valuation surveyor and a solicitor. Be wary of firms which offer to do it for a hefty price.

Read the rules, then you should think about approaching the freeholder (the fact it is your neighbour is largely irrelevant though it may help that you know her.) Say you plan to purchase a share of the freehold using your statutory rights and suggest you work together on the valuation and legal processes to save money.

She may not be keen as each year you don't buy, your lease becomes more valuable to her. But you are entitled to buy and so it would be foolish for her to try to stop you.

There are standard calculators so you should be able to get an early idea of the cost. Quite a lot! But a 60 year lease will mean your flat is losing value.

An alternative would be to ask how much she would charge for a lease extension.

Should have been ' you probably can and...'

Useful info, thanks

Am looking into extending my lease (90yrs) as well, did not know there waS a gvt site on this.

Does any old solicitor do this stuff?

Links

MSE's

Gov site

Lease

I have not read the advice in detail, but I would start by reading the guidance to see if you are eligible, then use the calculator to see if you can afford it. (If you can't consider aiming for an extension of the lease which will be cheaper.)

Then speak to the freeholder and see if they will work through the process with you. My understanding is that the legal process is relatively straight-forward but you want someone who does a lot of this work. You also want a valuation or "red-book" surveyor. I would ask around. Estate Agents and others may have suggestions. Indeed your mortgage company may be able to suggest a valuer who works in your area. If you get totally stuck for a solicitor I can suggest a couple of people (been there, done that) but you should be able to find the expertise locally.

Beware of sharks. These are shark infested waters. All sorts of people who offer to take you through the process., when it is a tedious but step-by-step process.

It is worth thinking about doing it when a lease falls to 90 years, and worth seriously thinking out it when a lease reaches 80. Mortgage companies can be funny about lending on properties with less than about 60 years, so potential buyers get nervous before then. Plus the cost starts rising sharply after about 70 years (I forget the exact point.) The trouble though is in bigger blocks (so not OP) the people who buy, have to buy the whole lease, so effectively have to buy the shares of people who don't want to, or can't afford to join in. So depending on take up this can be expensive, though you then get dribbles of money coming in as those people then change their minds (Again why a lease extension is also an option as you can do this individually.) And you need someone to take the lead.

You need to speak to a solicitor who specialises in property law as the laws around leasehold and freehold are complex. You may not be entitled to buy a share of the freehold. Yes, it should have been offered to you both at the time your neighbour bought it but it seems it wasn't. That doesn't mean that you have a right to buy a share of the freehold now or that the previous "mistake" will be rectified. This is where it gets complex and you need legal advice.

I write this as someone in the process of buying a share of the freehold in a large block where the current freeholder has got up to all sorts of dodgy dealings, including selling off the freehold to another company he owned without offering us leaseholders first refusal - we knew nothing about it for years! We are using a specialist solicitor for our freehold purchase due to the complexity.

I don't understand how the other owner was able to buy the FH without giving you the option to share.

We bought a maisonette (one of just 2) where the freeholder was apparently absent, and this had caused problems with the purchase. (As it happened he was living not far away under another name, presumably because of debts attached to the FH).

We eventually went on to buy the FH, but were required to contact the other owner (living abroad, flat was rented out) to ask whether she wanted to buy her share. In fact she didn't want to, so we ended up buying the entire FH.

I would urge you to contact a specialist solicitor for advice. We wasted a lot of time at first with a high st solicitor who told us he was conversant with this sort of thing, but in practice was useless. The specialist I later found online was very on the ball.

Particularly since the lease is now only 60 years, and the other owner bought 20 years ago, when it would have been cheaper - cost goes up quite a bit once it's below 80 years - I feel she should certainly have given you the option to share. Has she been asking for ground rent mean time? Presumably not, or you would have been aware that she owned the FH.

Thanks all. The f/holder has never asked me for ground rent; we'd never paid any before of course as the old f/holder was 'absent'. Either way it would have been peppercorn. My mortgage adviser has put me in touch with a solicitor specialising in leases etc and we've spoken briefly; he knows my situation in full basically, so I will now get him to act. I've looked up all the help sites etc and they have been useful as has this, thanks again. (I did read that the original f/holder = by law = was meant to offer the f/hold or a share of it to me (possible 5k fine) and that the new f/holder also was meant to write / send me various documentation inc. her address etc once she had bought the f/hold (possible 2.5k fine)... not sure what use that is but either way hopefully we can come to some sort of decent agreement.

It is when the lease drops below 80 years that the cost to extend it or purchase the freehold starts to go up drastically.

I know ; ( when I bought the flat I was badly advised; the lease was only for 85 years even then. Nobody flagged it up; not the mort. company, solicitor, estate agent, no-one. I was in my early 20s; thought it 'would do me for the next 85 years and promptly forgot all about it till I went to re-mortgage and then it all started to rear its ugly head. Ideally I'd like to buy half of the freehold; but it's in the solicitor's hands now and I shall await my fate but think positive. For what else is there to do. Stupid rotten system it is.