Would you buy this maisonette?

[Mermaid1971]

Would you sell a property with a share of leasehold to buy leasehold property with over 900 years with an absentee freeholder to live in area of choice, with a view to aquiring freehold or share of.

My solicitor just said I could do this??

ard.

It appears that he bought the freehold in 2003, sold the two flats on 999 year leases and then disappeared.

It means that you need to liaise with the other leaseholder to arrange insurance, repairs etc.

You could set up a Right to Manage company which the two leaseholders could run but for the purposes of purchasing now you could just use indemnity insurance

Sorry meant to type Share of Freehold

When it comes to flats and maisonettes, I’d always pick leasehold over share of freehold. With leasehold, there are clear rights and responsibilities and you know what your service charges cover and who provides the services. I rented a share of freehold flat years ago and I know it was a nightmare for my landlady to get repairs and maintenance done when needed because there was no management agreement and not all the owners were as houseproud as others - some didn’t care what the interior hallways looked like and the people on the ground floor refused to pay towards repairing the roof because they didn’t think it affected them.

Even if leasehold, a maisonette presumably has limited service charges anyway as no communal interior areas to maintain, light and keep in good nick etc. Make sure the lease sets out e.g. the arrangements for ensuring all leaseholders contribute to e.g. maintenance of the various parts of the structure.

there was no management agreement and not all the owners were as houseproud as others - some didn’t care what the interior hallways looked like and the people on the ground floor refused to pay towards repairing the roof because they didn’t think it affected them

tbf that was a very badly set up arrangement, and many of those problems can be ironed out. The contract can stipulate that the roof is a shared responsibility, along with other structural elements.

With a share of freehold you can shop around for the best price building insurance etc.

It depends on how many flats, what the set up is, etc.