Share of freehold

[Knownoone]

Hello All, Need your suggestion. We are in process of buying a house which is share of freehold. We have just 1 another flat in the building which is leasehold. I need to understand the following,

1. What would be our responsibilities as a share of freeholder
2. Can we get work done in our house like cellar conversion, windows etc without the approval of the leaseholder
3. Can we sell this house or extend the lease of the house without the approval of leaseholder
4. What about service charges, building insurance etc who will be responsible for the same. And how do we set the amount for the same.
5. In regards to council tax, who will be responsible for the same
6. What all approvals does the leaseholder need from us
7. Are we responsible for the upkeep of the leaseholders flat. They have a separate entry and we do have a separate one.

Please suggest. Appreciate your help.

You need to see the agreement as they vary, your solicitor should be able to clarify

I'm confused.

You say you are buying a house, but there is a flat in the building? So, is it two flats in the building, a house that's been converted to two flats, a house that has an annexe/flat.

When you say share of freehold, who holds the other share(s)? Or will you own the freehold for the whole building and will be the only freeholder? Are you actually buying a leasehold and a freehold?

I'm confused too - you can't have a share of the freehold without anyone else. But if you own the freehold, then yes in theory you could do that work but only with planning, regs etc.

Yes the house has 2 maisonettes with separate entrances. We would own the freehold and the other maisonette is on leasehold.

Yes there are 2 flats in the building with separate entrances. We own the freehold and the other flat is on leasehold.

Please check with your solicitor whether your maisonette has a lease (and a leasehold title) as well as the freehold. Are you purchasing the freehold for the whole building?

The leases will say who is responsible for insuring, maintaining and repairing each part of the building - and who has to pay (how costs are split).

Typical leases for a house converted into 2 flats would say that the freeholder is responsible for insuring and maintaining/repairing the main structure of the building (roof, external walls etc) - and the leaseholders each have to contribute 50% of the costs.

But leases for maisonettes tend to be a bit unusual - is it two purpose built maisonettes, one on the ground floor and one on the first floor?

They sometimes say that

• the upstairs leaseholder is responsible for insuring and maintaining/repairing the top half of the building including the roof
• the downstairs leaseholder is responsible for insuring and maintaining/repairing the bottom half of the building including the foundations

Depending on what the lease says, being a freeholder might come with lots of responsibilities - so you might have to get to grips with a lot of legislation.

But some leases (especially for maisonettes) put very few responsibilities on the freeholder.

Yes is is two maisonettes one on ground floor and second on first floor. The house we intend to buy has a lease on it and we would be the freeholder for the building .

I'm confused. So you're buying a leasehold maisonette and the freehold for the building (which consists of two leasehold maisonettes)? You wrote in your first post that you're buying a share of the freehold? Which one is it?

It's important that you understand what you're buying so you know what your responsibilities are as either the freeholder or a 50% share of freehold owner (because each one can bring a set of different issues that you need to consider and be comfortable with).

Sure let me clarify with the broker once again tomorrow. Appreciate all your help.

I did get the details from the broker. Currently the two maisonettes in the building are leasehold. The seller is extending the lease of the maisonette we are looking at buying and also buying the freehold of the entire building. He will then pass on the freehold to us once the property is sold to us. I am not sure if this is good or bad. We have never been the only freeholder of the property and hence wondering if this property would be worth it.