Leasehold Info Needed

[DumDom]

We are sort of thinking of purchasing the lease on our house.  If we were to start the process would the current lease holder send anyone to the house to look around? 
Never having lived in a leasehold property before, we did some work which we have since found out we should have asked their permission to do and I wondered if they could be a bit awkward about it. 
 

[peteh1]

We were in a similar position (as i guess many are) of having had work done that strictly required permission, but we went ahead and purchased from our landlord who it seems are notorious in extracting money but we had no checks that we were aware of carried out.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

On 17/01/2023 at 11:53, DumDom said:

We are sort of thinking of purchasing the lease on our house.  If we were to start the process would the current lease holder send anyone to the house to look around? 
Never having lived in a leasehold property before, we did some work which we have since found out we should have asked their permission to do and I wondered if they could be a bit awkward about it. 
 

1. If you own a leasehold house, you yourself are the leaseholder (tenant, T).

2. The freehold reversion (landlord, L) is the person entitled to ground rent payments.

3. Have you owned for at least two years? If so, you have statutory rights to purchase what L owns.

4. This is engaged by you- via your solicitor- serving a Notice of Claim.

5. L will then have the power to appoint a Chartered Surveyor at your cost, to visit and value.

6. But in many cases, L can tell you the sale price (+ legal fees) without a formal valuation.

For official guidance, see https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/i-own-a-leasehold-house-how-do-i-buy-the-freehold/

 

[Jim Hardie]

https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/i-own-a-leasehold-house-how-do-i-buy-the-freehold/

[DumDom]

On 18/01/2023 at 17:42, Jeffrey Shaw said:

1. If you own a leasehold house, you yourself are the leaseholder (tenant, T).

2. The freehold reversion (landlord, L) is the person entitled to ground rent payments.

3. Have you owned for at least two years? If so, you have statutory rights to purchase what L owns.

4. This is engaged by you- via your solicitor- serving a Notice of Claim.

5. L will then have the power to appoint a Chartered Surveyor at your cost, to visit and value.

6. But in many cases, L can tell you the sale price (+ legal fees) without a formal valuation.

For official guidance, see https://www.lease-advice.org/faq/i-own-a-leasehold-house-how-do-i-buy-the-freehold/

 

Thanks peteh1, Jeffrey & Jim for the info. 
 

We have lived in the property 10yrs, there’s almost 700yrs left it ran from 25/3/1936, is it worth purchasing it?

Also wondering we haven’t been asked for the yearly payment since 2019 . We received a letter from landlords solicitor saying it was no longer financially viable to keep collecting, would that cause a problem?

I have the landlords details and having read the link it’s suggests writing informally to them, is this something you would advise Jeffrey? 

Edited January 20, 2023 by DumDom
Extra info

[topflat29]

1.     If the ground rent is no longer collected by landlord's solicitor , it is indicating  the annual ground  rent must be small ( below £25 p.a  ). 

 

2.    Before you write to make an  informal offer to buy the freehold title for your  house , investigate the size of the freehold title . ( just one house or entire street of houses ? ) 

 

Visit Land Registry Online website and buy a copy of the (1) freehold title and (2)  site plan for your leasehold house . The cost is  £3 each by credit card and you can download the  info.

 

Check with the  houses , next door ,  to  ascertain if  they have same freeholder .

 

3.   Details of free guide  to  compulsory purchase  of freehold title  of  a leasehold house (  enfranchisement under 1967  Act ) , may be obtained from  LEASE (  www. lease-advice.org ) . 

 

4.  Consider making an informal offer to buy the freehold title  of  your house at 25 x annual ground rent  +  £250  contribution to landlord's  legal cost .

[DumDom]

The ground rent was/is £6.50 pa.

Next door both seem to have different freeholders ( the solicitors who collect are different to who we paid to). 
So you think an informal offer of £162.50 + £250 May be acceptable?. It seems quite low to me. 
They’ve made no attempt to contact re yearly amount so presume they’re not in it for the money. They live down south in Somerset. 

[topflat29]

As I have pointed out, the £6.50  ground rent is not economic  to collect.

 

Have you checked the freeholder at Land registry Records ?    Was the ground rent previously  paid to  a person or company ?  

 

I suggest  you make an  informal  offer ( and  marked  "subject to contract" )  to buy the freehold title of your house  at  30 x GR  =  £195  + £250 contribution to landlord's legal costs .

 

 

[Jeffrey Shaw]

HMLR: be careful to use the proper website.

https://www.gov.uk/search-property-information-land-registry

 

There are several copycat websites. Beware!

[DumDom]

Thanks for the info guys I’ve not had time to look into it as yet. 
Jeffrey re notice of claim, should I write to the landlord or go down the official route? 
Does a house being leasehold really put buyers off a property? The length left on our freehold is over 700years.