Sellers/Buyers Roll Call No 5...,

[sandybayley]

Starting new thread. Calling all the regulars...
@TiddleTaddleTat
@WBWIFE
@Allhallowseve
@BeauticianNotMagician81
@crispysausagerolls
@dimmu
@Fleabag123
@Farontothemaddingcrowd
@Frogqueen13
@Glitteryfrog
@MrsPatmore
@Smart123

Oh joy. Sol seems to there’s a problem with the lease - he’s sent a load of calculations about ground rent which make no sense at all, but also says he’s not sure if he’s made a mistake. I hope he has otherwise he says the lease is “not acceptable”.
My seller only bought about 5 years ago so presumably the lease (from 2011) checked out OK then - I know things can be missed but just hoping he’s read it or interpreted it wrong

Good luck to everyone, hope the week brings good news

And so begins another week

Fingers crossed for you all!

@Fleabag123 I lived in rentals for years before buying and have never heard of that rule. Ive always given notice at various times of the month and paid a months notice or more depending on what I needed and just paid for that period.

Eek good luck for the new week everyone. I really hope ours goes smoothly. I'm already looking at paint colours

@Fleabag123 what are the calculations about - is it a doubling ground rent, or to do with a RPI increase?

We had a ground rent fiasco but exchanged in the end...

@Tiddle : it’s both I think!
The lease term is 150 years from 1971, the lease was renewed in terms of ground rent in 2011 but the length of the lease didn’t increase so the term remains as per the 1971 lease.
2011 lease says the ground rent increases to £300 in 2036 (doubles every 25yrs) . my solicitor has sent the below

“The ground rent increases in 2036 to £300 OR IF HIGHER (which it will be), then the £150 is increased in line with inflation from 1971. This means it will probably be more than £3,000 on the review in 2036.

I have used today's figures as I don't know what the figures will be in 17 years time.

The rent increase should have been based on inflation from 2011 when the rent was revised not 1971”

So I don’t know what happens now - deed of variation? I can’t afford to extend the lease

@Fleabag123 that's tricky - are you buying or selling this leasehold?
As far as I am aware, a deed of variation is for errors in the lease. Is this an error or are the terms unfavourable?
Is it possible to buy the freehold?

We are buying.

The solicitor has just said it’s not acceptable in this format and sent a letter to the vendors solicitor asking for clarification. He seems to think it’s an error but I don’t know...

We would hope to buy the freehold in time but not possible financially at the moment

No news yet. Just waiting to exchange still..

Apparently our buyer is answering some final enquries then I'm hoping were good to go.

No idea if we will complete by the time we go on holiday next Friday

Hmmm so we accepted an offer last week for slightly less than we were hoping for, and are waiting for the buyer to name their solicitor before removing the flat from the market. The EA just called that someone who saw the flat a couple of weeks ago wants a second viewing. They have been away for a bit and only just came back and know that an offer has been accepted. The EA thinks we should allow the viewing, but I am wondering if that's appropriate?
This viewer spent over half an hour in the flat the last time they saw it so they must have seriously considered it.

dimmu you may as well although it seems very odd to view somewhere and then go away for a bit so I'd be a bit suspicious personally about how committed they were to buying and buying quickly- a trustworthy buyer is worth their weight in gold in this process especially in the current climate.

I'm chasing everyone - but it's like wading through treacle. I'm being very polite and trying to be patient but it's very difficult! Either we should exchange this week - surely - or there's some funny stuff going on. Arg!

Hi, new here. Just about to put our house on the market (putting it off as I know how much cleaning/decluttering i'll have to do!)

Our next door neighbour as put there's on which has made things a bit weird for us, anyone have any advice for us?! I'm concerned about the market in general (outer North London) but what can you do? People have got to move on!

@Fleabag123 It sounds like the vendors would have issues with this lease whoever they sold to with the terms you have described. I guess you have a strong case to negotiate but it could involved protracted communications - is the freeholder responsive?

We have asked the estate agent to see if the vendor is willing to break the chain and move into rented / with family.
We are ready to exchange on the purchase but the top of the chain is a flat and moving very slowly.
Because the house we're buying needs rewiring we need to complete even sooner than planned. Trying to negotiate for early completion first, if they refuse we will have to drop our offer in line with cost of rewiring. Can't afford to do that and replumb as well as the cost (and stress) of moving into temporary accommodation once our rental period is up.

No news here 🙄
Wonder what excuse there will be this week.
I've tried to switch off over the long weekend, but really how much longer, now almost at 6 months, I am so tired of talking about it!!

So I think the sol is insinuating that the ground rent escalation is silly and that we’d potentially struggle to sell as future owners would be stuck paying thousands.
Vendor bought in 2014 so signed up to this lease. I guess what they are saying now is did he know and went ahead anyway, taking the risk, or did his sols not advise him properly in which case he could sue them for negligence.

They are now talking about lease extension but that could take ages and would presumably cost a lot. Fucks sake. I think we’ll end up losing this one too

This is not the usual type of advice asked for here but wondered what others would do in situation. We returned from holiday today to find out one of our buyers passed away during this time. I only met them once but feel devastated for this young family. The lady still wants to proceed as it was what her partner would want.
Our communication is through E A but I don’t know whether I should make contact with her or send a card or just let agents carry on.
I want to help her and make things as easy as possible but don’t want to cross any boundaries.

@TulipsfromAmsterdam - how awful.

Personally speaking I think I'd send a sympathy card but realistically speaking won't it make things very difficult for your buyer? I can't imagine how they will now get through the process with all the arrangements they are going to have to make.

@sandybayley thanks for reply. Think I will wait until I hear from agent first. Buyers had already sold and were living with relatives so think she just wants to get a new home for kids. We are willing to wait as long as it takes but would understand if she changed her mind.

@fringeandtrainers we put ours up and then next door put theirs up! Was a bit awkward but fine

We asked if they'd take.their sign down and we both not have signs as it looked a bit weird both being up. They refused but we both ended up selling so..

Right, got a bit more clarity from sol.
The lease has a ridiculous ground rent clause that will see it rocket to several thousand instead of £300 at next review in 17 years. He said mortgage lender may be unhappy to proceed but even if they are we could be stuck unable to sell it which we’d want to in 5ish yrs.

It’s unclear at this stage if the vendor knew about this 5yrs when he bought and decided to proceed anyway, or whether he didn’t know and therefore his purchasing solicitors were negligent in not warning him.
So options are 1) hope freeholder agrees to variation if lease - they are under no obligation to

2. vendor applies for statutory lease ext - costs £££ and might take up to a year = both lose our purchases

3. vendor gives us price reduction in order that we can apply for statutory lease ext after 2yrs. This will remove the ground rent issue. No idea how much this might cost but it could be >20k so who knows if he’ll agree

He could hope for a cash buyer or someone who doesn’t care about the ground rent but then would also potentially lose his onward purchase.

What a mess

Sounds like a nightmare Fleabag123. I thought I'd read somewhere that the Government were going to change the law to stop these punitive lease charge increases. Do you really want the hassle of it all?

It is a nightmare!

Yes there are planned reforms but it’s a big “maybe” with Brexit etc dominating govt time.

There’s not much else on the market at the mo and hasn’t been for months otherwise we’d pull out now. So I think we need to see how it plays out. If we could get price down that would work in our favour altho no guarantee vendor & lender will agree to it

Bloody hell @Fleabag123 - what a nightmare.

I know nothing about leaseholds as we've always had a freehold. Only thing I have to contribute is that this sounds like it needs to be 100% a 'head' rather than 'heart' decision.

It's all too easy to get emotional about house buying (don't I know it) but you need to be as rational as you can and - if needs be - be prepared to walk away.

Thank you ladies and @sandybayley you’re absolutely right. Sol has said be prepared to walk away which was hard to hear but it may come to that

I’ll keep you posted!