gated places - any experience?

[SoonerthanIthought]

Hello, just wondering if anyone here has experience of buying a freehold house on a gated development?

If so, how does it usually work regarding ownership of the 'common area' like the road leading to the house, any pavements, and so on? Do the house owners all have a share in the freehold of that land, or is owned by someone else? Or does it vary?
Have been looking at one (as I expect you can guess from the fact that I've posted!) and I don't know how it works usually, or if there are pros and cons to different ways it can work. All would come to light through the solicitor eventually of course, but I was looking for some general info at this stage. Any advice/opinions gratefully received!

Bumping for the Friday evening knowledgeable-about-private-estates crowd (perhaps 'crowd' is optimistic!)

Usually the common land is held by the developer and everyone pays an annual fee for maintenance. It’s not unreasonable to ask these questions from the estate agent before you go to the expense of hiring a solicitor.

Thanks pip, that's very helpful! You're right of course about asking the estate agent! I wonder if the residents ever own a share of the freehold of it - if so is that preferable? Presumably when the house is first sold the developer grants a right of access over the land - again something to ask the estate agent!

In my experience the developer sells the land off to an investment company - often pension funds - and everyone pays shared costs for the upkeep of the land, as per the TP1 (which is worth reading first as it will tell you your rights and responsibilities).

Thanks again - showing my ignorance, what is the TP1? (I know you can get the title deeds from the land registry website, but sometimes they refer to other documents like 'the transfer'. I've assumed only the conveyancing solicitor can get those additional docs from the land registry - but maybe they're available to ordinary house buyers as well, just not by online purchase?

Sounds as though the TP1 may be fairly crucial (understatement?)!

Alternatively everyone in the development owns a share in the company that owns the land and pays into a not for profit fund to maintain the area. This is the case in the development I live in, we have a management committee of a few of the residents, we all have a £1 share and pay £250 a year. The development is built in Gardens laid out originally by Capability Brown so we have to retain and care for certain features. Every time I drive in I think how lucky I am to live in such a pretty place, maintenance charges are not always a bad thing.

Is the house freehold or leasehold?

Hi just, it's freehold.

It depends how large the estate is. I live on a small gated road, only 10 houses. I think the road is owned by all of us and one of the residents manages care of the common areas (gardeners, gate maintenance etc). It costs about €1000 a year (gates are astonishingly expensive).

Ah ok, I wonder how that shows up on the title deeds/plan - not sure how they show a shared freehold? as it wouldn't be a boundary as such. That sounds as though you have a bit more control over things than if a management company's running it.

Do you have a formal agreement between the residents - and if so was that all set out in the conveyancing documents? Sorry to fire questions at you, and don't feel you have to answer!

TBH, I'm not sure at all. I should know, because I remember the solicitor explaining how it worked, but it's been quite a while since we bought the house and it was a busy time (we were moving country and a previous house had just fallen through so we had 6 weeks before the DC started their new school to find another house).

6 weeks - that sounds stressful! Sounds as though it's worked out well though if you've been there a long time (always a good sign). Ha to the gates being expensive - I suppose they can go wrong!

We own a share of the freehold space (drive, Parking, paving, landscaped areas, bin area etc) around our holiday house (14 on the site) and we have all set up a management company where residents are directors. In effect, it’s our company. This arrangement is fairly standard these days and may well be set up by the developer. We pay a fixed sum every month and get an annual report from our manager. We decide on any issues that need our attention when they arise. Anyone can bring an issue forward for a decision. If larger amounts of money are needed, we would have to pay up. We don’t pay enough for bigger projects but everyone pays because it’s a space owned by all residents.

We do similar with our London flat which has shared access and “garden”. We pay every month towards a fund for costs and basic maintenance. At the holiday house, the directors employ a manager and a gardener. We don’t for the flat but run an account (only 4 flats) from which payments are made as we need to make them.

thanks again, that is so helpful! It does sound as though joint ownership of the land is not that uncommon - obviously worth asking the estate agent. It also makes sense in a way - huge hassle for the developer to keep hold of it, and is it really profitable enough for an investor to want to buy it? I can see it may be different for larger gated places.

Bubbles, do you by any chance remember how the share of the freehold is shown on the boundary map attached to the title deeds? I realise the answer will almost certainly be no! - why would you? Just trying to get my head round the legal formalities.
Thanks again - it is really useful to 'speak to' people with direct experience!

For ours there is a management company that own the communal areas - on the deeds each property boundary is shown and the communal areas are outlined a different colour. Each unit pays monthly maintenance to the management company

Thanks gobbledy it does sound as though there are different ways of organising things.

What happens if you have a shared freehold and there's disagreement amongst the sharers about what works to do? ie one person says sorry no, don't want to mend that broken down gate, it's too expensive. Is there a formal agreement between the sharers about dispute resolution procedures?

Usually with a share of freehold company, there's a board of directors - engaged people who take on the responsibility (and liability!) for organising insurance/repairs etc. I always explain it to my clients like the way that anyone can own a share in Tesco but only the board gets a say in how it's run - it's the same principle. In my experience it's run in a democratic way and unless there are serious reasons for not doing something, then they'll vote on it and the chair has the deciding vote if it's a tie. But then you also get people who join the board with an ulterior motive, so it always depends on the people involved.

Thanks again! Is the freehold management company usually set up at the same time as the development, and arranged so that all subsequent purchasers have to buy a share, with all the relevant obligations, when they buy the house? Just wondering how it works when you come to resell.

ah! i see the tp1 is the transfer form - afaik not available to buy online?

Ours is set up as a resident owned management company, every property has one share. The deeds go into quite a bit of detail on the shared boundaries and specific responsibilities of the management company (essentially general upkeep and repairs)

For us each of the houses has a director. There’s a memorandum lodged with companies house about how your directors make decisions - for us ours is majority (we decided against any director having a deciding vote as we all have to live here and felt if there wasn’t a majority it would be better to find a compromise we agreed on than force something through that some people were against).