Hi, I'm in the painful/exciting process of buying a house! I've seen one I like but it has a flying freehold. Basically the top floor of the building at the front of the house belongs to the neighbour, and the back part to the house for sale. Does anyone have any experience of this? Does it create problems for obtaining a mortgage or getting insurance?

Any advice gratefully received! :thumbsup:

It sounds to me that the issue is the area over a passage way?

If so, I believe the CML (Lenders handbook which sets out the rules on what lenders will and will not lend on) states that where the area is less than 10% of the total floor space - the vast majority of lenders will still lend, although it may be that this has to be backed up by indemnity insurance.

The sellers can usually be persuaded to pay the cost of this and it won't be a lot of money in the grand scheme of things. Don't quote me on this, as I am recalling this from memory and have not checked CML, but this figure should be right or thereabouts.

This is a common issue and is not something which will cause too much alarm for your solicitor, so don't worry too much about it.

flying freeholds should be avoided. I nearly bought one in Chesterfield, lured by a ridiculously low price, but a host of potential legal problems emerged after surveyor valuation. To cite just one example: it was a ground floor flat, and some of the wiring was in the ceiling, which meant it could arguably have belonged to the floor of the flat upstairs. Similar situation for plumbing, etc. Legal minefield, don't touch with a barge pole. Sorry, Aufwindian

Thanks for the advice everyone that PM'd or posted! THey rejected my offer anyhow - holding out for asking price or over (crazy place sheffield)! In lieu of the flying freehold - and the problems with re-wiring that aufwindian pointed out. Think my offer was fair. Ho hum! Back to the search again!