topflat29 Posted September 2, 2017 Share Posted September 2, 2017 You can find the cost of buying the freehold title for a leasehold house with 900 years lease and £6 ground rent from a recent decision in 2016 by the FTT decision ( First Tier Tribunal ) by Northern Residential Property Chamber under Ref: MAN/ooCA/oAF/2015/0033 . The cost came to £107 ( approx 17 x annual ground rent ) and the legal costs were sset at £250 + VAT. http://decisions.lease-advice.org//app/uploads/decisions/act67/1-1000/959.pdf Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 (edited) They are not allowed to just name any price to prevent you from being able to buy it, it has to be a sensible figure. The rough rule of thumb is between 15-30 times the annual ground rent. Er, what you say is true; but there's no law precluding a demand for a price that's unfeasibly high. The leaseholder's only control is use of the First Tier Tribunal (ne the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal) but the cost of being represented there is also a lot. ---------- Post added 04-09-2017 at 17:55 ---------- You can apply to court but that's hardly inexpensive. Same with getting a good solicitor. I could refuse to pay the big admin fees, but while they never say so I think it's entirely obvious that if I refused I would get a negative to whatever requests I had made. Which they're entirely entitled to do because there's no 'may not be unreasonably refused' anywhere in this contract**. They can just say no for any reason or none at all. ** No but s.19 of the Landlord and Tenant Act 1927 contains just that wording. See my post #13 on https://www.sheffieldforum.co.uk/showthread.php?p=11707023&highlight=landlord+and+tenant+act+1927#post11707023 Edited September 4, 2017 by Jeffrey Shaw Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave h-j Posted September 4, 2017 Share Posted September 4, 2017 Bought mine from Compton Group in Jan 2014. Ground rent was £8/yr (split into two payments of £4 per 6 months) and had ~850 years to run. Compton wanted £700 to sell the freehold reversion. I engaged a solicitor at £250+VAT (ex disbursements). Overall it cost me £1049 plus a few hours of my time to travel and sign paperwork. I decided to buy because they wanted to enforce their insurance company to cover the house and I wanted to build an extention. Yes I could have filed the paperwork for this to avoid it, but there was nothing to stop them claiming it was incorrectly filed or otherwise invalid - I would then have to engage a solicitor and would start to accumulate costs. Therefore I saw the value in spending ~£1000 to remove this potential future issue and at the same time receive the benefit of holding the freehold. Hope this helps someone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted September 5, 2017 Share Posted September 5, 2017 Bought mine from Compton Group in Jan 2014. Ground rent was £8/yr (split into two payments of £4 per 6 months) and had ~850 years to run. Compton wanted £700 to sell the freehold reversion. I engaged a solicitor at £250+VAT (ex disbursements). Overall it cost me £1049 plus a few hours of my time to travel and sign paperwork... Therefore I saw the value in spending ~£1000 to remove this potential future issue and at the same time receive the benefit of holding the freehold. Still sounds expensive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave h-j Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Still sounds expensive! Probably, I was offered it at £500 from the previous holder - but missed the deadline (misplaced paperwork). What would your target price have been? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robin-H Posted September 9, 2017 Share Posted September 9, 2017 Bought mine from Compton Group in Jan 2014. Ground rent was £8/yr (split into two payments of £4 per 6 months) and had ~850 years to run. Compton wanted £700 to sell the freehold reversion. I engaged a solicitor at £250+VAT (ex disbursements). Overall it cost me £1049 plus a few hours of my time to travel and sign paperwork. I decided to buy because they wanted to enforce their insurance company to cover the house and I wanted to build an extention. Yes I could have filed the paperwork for this to avoid it, but there was nothing to stop them claiming it was incorrectly filed or otherwise invalid - I would then have to engage a solicitor and would start to accumulate costs. Therefore I saw the value in spending ~£1000 to remove this potential future issue and at the same time receive the benefit of holding the freehold. Hope this helps someone. £8 a year using the basic rule of thumb would come to between £120-£240, plus legal fees. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dave h-j Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 £8 a year using the basic rule of thumb would come to between £120-£240, plus legal fees. Thanks - I guess in this case you would also need to figure in the legal fees for the seller (as well as your own). What if they rejected your offer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeffrey Shaw Posted September 11, 2017 Share Posted September 11, 2017 Once Notice of Claim has been served, the reversioner is compelled to sell. The only dispute is about at what price; and the First Tier Tribunal can be used but would waste a lot of money on each side. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnnaGrant Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 Hello, another question about purchasing freehold that I hope Jeffrey Shaw might be able to advise on. We have requested from the surveyors who bill us for our leasehold a quote for purchasing our freehold. There is about 800 years left on the lease. The surveyors have asked us for £350 to prepare the quote, which they say will involve a valuation on the house and going through the deeds. Is this level of fee normal for a quote? Thank you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geared Posted September 22, 2017 Share Posted September 22, 2017 (edited) Thats taking the mickey, tell them to FRO. You shouldn't be paying anything just for a quote, in all honesty it sounds like you shouldn't even be asking to buy it. You employ someone like Jeffrey and he tells them you will be buying it, (after a couple of years when you have the right obviously). Edited September 22, 2017 by geared Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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