Purchasing a Freehold with an absent Freeholder

[Amnet]

I've read an old thread stating that it is quite straight forward to purchase the freehold where the Freeholder is not traceable. Apart from trying to trace him (27 years absent and not collected ground rent or service charges in that time), I'm not sure what the process is or next steps. Previous threads mention the price is worked out by a formula and court proceedings. Any advice, or experience appreciated. Thanks Am

We thought we had an absentee Fholder - no ground rent demanded for several years, nobody knew where he was, etc. It caused all sort of problems with the purchase, and we started the FH purchase process onnthe assumption that he was absent.
In fact he was hiding just few miles away under another name, because of debts attached to the FH.

The process would have been simpler if he hadn't eventually decided to,pop up. In the case of an absentee, It goes to a tribunal, who decide via a formula (based on value of,property length of lease and ground rent) how much you will have to pay.

Do use a solicitor who knows what they're doing! We started the process with the High St sol.who'd handled the purchase, , but they were frankly pretty useless. I eventually found a specialist sol. online. They were miles better but It still took around a year, and it still had to go to a tribunal even though Mr Debt-Dodging Fholder had revealed himself by then - thinking there'd be money in it.

Although our FHolder had not demanded ground rent since we'd bought the flat, nor from the previous owner (he pretended he'd sent invoices but it was a lie) we still had by law to pay him 7 years' ground rent before the FH transfer could be finalised.

I think there's a 7 year limit, so I would suspect that you might also have to pay it, even if you haven't been invoiced. In the case of an absentee, the FH price is put into an (escrow?) account, in case the FHolder ever pops up, so,presumably the same might be done with back GR.

I have a feeling that you are required to show the court that you've done your best to trace the FHolder. I did use a tracing service for ours, fully expecting them to say they couldn't find him (it was thought that he'd returned to his native country) but despite the name change they found him in about a week!

IMO you need to speak to a specialist solicitor. I found ours courtesy of google, and until the actual court sessions (2, IIRC) it was all done by phone/email, so it didn't need to be a local firm. There was also a free 15 minute initial consultation by phone.

I meant to add, with a truly absentee FHolder the process should be quicker than ours proved to be, but IIRC at least some of the delay was caused by having to wait for slots to be scheduled at the court - always a backlog of cases, apparently.

Hi Gettinglikemymother (great profile name) - thank you so much. What a nightmare! Sorry that he turned up.

Would you be able to give me the details of the specialist solicitors? Also the tracing service? I am wondering if it is the same person...does your absent freeholder's 'real' name have the initials EP?

Much appreciated.

Hi, Amnet.

The firm we used was Ringley Legal (N London) so I hope they're still going - it was several years ago now. They're specialists in such things and fees were pretty reasonable.

I'm afraid I can't remember the name of the tracing service - I just googled private detectives, or tracing missing person, or something like that. .IIRC they charged about £75, but it was some time ago now.

Interestingly, once they'd found the bloke (not EP!) we sent letters (which weren't answered) so we visited the house (which according to the Land Reg he'd bought very soon after selling ours to the previous owner) but whoever answered the door - it could have been him for all we knew - denied all knowledge of him.

It was only later during the process, when it dawned on him that there could be money in it, , that he decided to pop up.
Good luck!
You don't say where you are, but I gather that in London, where there are so many LH properties, the situation is not uncommon.

The English leasehold system really is a farce. I also had an absentee freeholder ( in practice, moved abroad and died, I found out via the church frequented by persons of his nationality) but the court would not take my word for it .and I still had to pay for a private investigator. In the end I paid £10000 to the court for the privilege of extending our lease. I asked the solicitor what happens in cases where leases end and the freeholder is absentee, she said the property goes to the Duchy of Cornwall, aka Prince Charles. The property is in London!

Hi whataboutbob

Thank you for you advice. I am London too. I have some Q's as it really is a minefield..... Did the court accept he was absent (through death)? Did you have to look for family members? Who was you Private Investigator and how much did they cost? How many years was there left on your lease before extension? I know it hikes up below 80 years and you also pay a 'marriage value' which hikes up the price by £K's.

Much appreciation. Amnet

Hi. I couldn't tell the court I knew he was dead as it was just hearsay and I had no proof is death certificate- I'd have had to go to Africa to get that! There was 78 years in the lease. In the end the solicitors hired an agent to do the search and added that to their bill. I was pissed off they didn't take my research into account.i did last known address, wrote to all persons of same surname on electoral roll with an SAE ( none replied), looked at companies house fire a bankruptcy order. Nothing. Maybe the court/ your solicitor would accept your own research which could help keep overall price down a bit. Worth asking.