Freehold Purchase Advice

[BigAl1]

20 hours ago, blackydog said:

I applied to buy the freehold of a house at Heeley a few years ago but didn't go through with it. From memory it was £1250 plus costs.

I have applied again recently and have to pay costs of £360 upfront for the work involved. Fair enough, the drawback though is I won't know the cost of the reversion until well after the £360 is paid. So I could be chucking £360 down the drain.

There are hundreds of years left and it's about £14 / annum BUT I'm concerned Coppen may one day buy the freehold, if I don't act. 😟

sounds like a con to me. How can they expect you to pay upfront for answering a simple question "how much will it be to buy"

[Jeffrey Shaw]

6 hours ago, BigAl1 said:

sounds like a con to me. How can they expect you to pay upfront for answering a simple question "how much will it be to buy"

True. There is no right to charge any up-front advance fee.

The only such right, prior to completion, arises if P serves Notice of Claim on V.

V then has legal right to serve a statutory demand requiring a deposit of the greater of:

a. £25; or

b. three times the ground rent payable each year on P's own property (disregarding any others in the same lease).

[blackydog]

On 25/07/2022 at 16:45, geared said:

You should be having a solicitor deal with this for you, otherwise you're wide open to overpaying.

 

Your total cost should be in the £1500-£2000 region for everything.

 

 

Yeah you're right. As I said in an earlier post, I wasn't charged anything for a previous quote, so was expecting a similar response. I'll do a search and engage someone.

[topflat29]

On 28/07/2022 at 12:12, blackydog said:

Yeah you're right. As I said in an earlier post, I wasn't charged anything for a previous quote, so was expecting a similar response. I'll do a search and engage someone.

I suggest you  study  First Tier Tribunal   decision for  MAN/00CA/OAF/2020/0020  ( dated 8 Mar 2021 ).

 

Address of  house  at  9 Montague Road , Liverpool.

 

Lease 999 years from 29 Sept 1992 and  Ground rent = £9.60 p.a

 

Price to pay under 1967 Act for freehold   = £150  plus £400 for professional fees.

[blackydog]

On 26/07/2022 at 17:15, Jeffrey Shaw said:

True. There is no right to charge any up-front advance fee.

The only such right, prior to completion, arises if P serves Notice of Claim on V.

V then has legal right to serve a statutory demand requiring a deposit of the greater of:

a. £25; or

b. three times the ground rent payable each year on P's own property (disregarding any others in the same lease).

They may not have the right, but can make it difficult for me (or my solicitor) to progress unless I pay up.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

The only real way to disabuse them and stop the difficulty that they're causing is to take them off to the Tribunal/County Court. This then exposes you to further delays and possibly extra costs not recoverable from L- who knows this very well.

[blackydog]

22 hours ago, Jeffrey Shaw said:

The only real way to disabuse them and stop the difficulty that they're causing is to take them off to the Tribunal/County Court. This then exposes you to further delays and possibly extra costs not recoverable from L- who knows this very well.

My driver for this is to avoid Coppen buying the freehold, and making my life more difficult than it need be. A solicitor I spoke to told me this was unlikely as Coppen aren't interested in buying long leases of hundreds of years. They prey on shorter leases where they can cause more financial havoc for people.  

The same solicitor also told me these are probably the management companies legal charges. I have asked them to confirm if this will be the total of charges, or if they are likely to be more.

Edited August 25, 2022 by blackydog

[Jeffrey Shaw]

On 25/08/2022 at 15:32, blackydog said:

A solicitor I spoke to told me this was unlikely as Coppen aren't interested in buying long leases of hundreds of years. They prey on shorter leases where they can cause more financial havoc for people.  

 

No- Coppen has regularly bought- and continues to buy- freehold reversion portfolios subject to long leases.

[blackydog]

On 04/09/2022 at 15:41, Jeffrey Shaw said:

No- Coppen has regularly bought- and continues to buy- freehold reversion portfolios subject to long leases.

Spoken again to the agents today. After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing, it appears I am ok to take this up with the current freeholder myself and not have to pay the agent £360, to get things moving. Suspect someone has been a little economical with the truth along the way.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

4 hours ago, blackydog said:

Spoken again to the agents today. After a bit of too-ing and fro-ing, it appears I am ok to take this up with the current freeholder myself and not have to pay the agent £360, to get things moving. Suspect someone has been a little economical with the truth along the way.

There's no right for anyone to demand £360 in advance.

The ONLY pre-completion demand (other than ground rent, under s.166 of course) is if the tenant (leaseholder) serves Notice of Claim. The landlord (reversioner) can then demand a statutory deposit, capped at the larger of:

a. £25; and

b. three times the property's own annual ground rent.