Leasehold/ Freehold

[topflat29 10]

I think it depends on the length of the lease that's left, the ground rent, and the cost of buying the freehold. Our house has 600 years left on the lease, the ground rent is £2.00 a year, and the freehold would cost us £1500. So, being leasehold didn't put me off or devalue the property for me, the devaluing was due to the condition of the house more than anything...

 

For a leasehold house with 600 years and paying 2 pds ground rent, the freehold would cost 28 -40 pds ( about 14 times annual ground rent ) plus reasonable legal fees. You can confirm this by looking at the recent decisions for freeholds of leasehold houses determined by LVT ( Northern Office ) which can be viewed at http://www.rpts.gov.uk

[HarrietStar 10]

For a leasehold house with 600 years and paying 2 pds ground rent, the freehold would cost 28 -40 pds ( about 14 times annual ground rent ) plus reasonable legal fees. You can confirm this by looking at the recent decisions for freeholds of leasehold houses determined by LVT ( Northern Office ) which can be viewed at http://www.rpts.gov.uk

 

Thanks, that's good to know. £1500 is what the freeholder quoted us, but we have no interest in buying the freehold right now. It's good to know for the future though!

[Kaye2812 10]

We have just bought the freehold to our property. It was on a long lease (over 700 years) with an annual ground rent of £50. We got quoted £800 + costs by the owner of the lease initially. After quoting some recent tribunal decisions to them and putting in a counter offer of £50, we eventually settled at £200 + costs (we figured that the £170 it would cost us to take it to a tribunal + the £50 for the lease then accepting the £200 figure was a better option). In total we paid £660 including the leagal fees and VAT for both sides.

 

If anyone would like me to send them a copy of the letter we sent to our leaseholder with the example tribunal decisions then pm me with your email address and I will send them to you. On long leases (like ours) the tribunal normally awards a 10 x ground rent figure. I found this out from all the helpful advice on here, without which we would have probably paid the £800 Torren were wanting!

[Vanessa1 10]

Quite often the low ground rents are uneconomical to collect and the freeholds are sold off to unscruluous companies engaging in making extortionate demands on leaseholders such as 200 pds consent fee for changing your mortgage lender.

 

 

This is a good point. We recently bought our freehold (£250+legal fees) before applying for planning permission to build an extension. The previous owner of our house was fleeced by the sharks managing the freehold who, according to the terms of the lease, need to give "consent" before a planning application can be submitted.

[Kaye2812 10]

This is a good point. We recently bought our freehold (£250+legal fees) before applying for planning permission to build an extension. The previous owner of our house was fleeced by the sharks managing the freehold who, according to the terms of the lease, need to give "consent" before a planning application can be submitted.

 

This was also the reason why we bought our Freehold. The builders have now started on site! It says in our lease that we must obtain permission and the company who owned our freehold wanted to charge for this privilege. If you plan to do alterations then buying the freehold can be the easier option I think.

Edited September 20, 2011 by DaFoot
fixing quote

[jeff2112 10]

I would definitely appreciate a copy of your letter as I am being ripped by my Leaseholder right now

 

Thanks in advance

 

We have just bought the freehold to our property. It was on a long lease (over 700 years) with an annual ground rent of £50. We got quoted £800 + costs by the owner of the lease initially. After quoting some recent tribunal decisions to them and putting in a counter offer of £50, we eventually settled at £200 + costs (we figured that the £170 it would cost us to take it to a tribunal + the £50 for the lease then accepting the £200 figure was a better option). In total we paid £660 including the leagal fees and VAT for both sides.

 

If anyone would like me to send them a copy of the letter we sent to our leaseholder with the example tribunal decisions then pm me with your email address and I will send them to you. On long leases (like ours) the tribunal normally awards a 10 x ground rent figure. I found this out from all the helpful advice on here, without which we would have probably paid the £800 Torren were wanting!

[Jeffrey Shaw 93]

I would definitely appreciate a copy of your letter as I am being ripped by my Leaseholder right now

A. That was over nineteen months ago, so I doubt that the member will reply.

B. You yourself are the leaseholder, I think. You're scarcely ripping-off yourself!

C. So it's the freehold reversioner against whom you have a grievance. What's going wrong?

[Kaye2812 10]

I would definitely appreciate a copy of your letter as I am being ripped by my Leaseholder right now

 

Thanks in advance

 

Hi Jeff,

 

If you pm me your email address I can forward you the letter in word format.

 

Kaye

[El Diego 10]

Is it risky to buy a flat that is already a freehold or is it only a risk if the other flats in the block are leasehold?

 

I am aware that it can be difficult to get a mortgage to buy a freehold flat.

[jeff2112 10]

Thank you Kaye

 

I cannot pm until I have 5 posts, 3 to go!

[jeff2112 10]

[Thank you Jeffrey

A. The member has replied which surprised me in fairness.

B. I am the leaseholder you are correct it had been a long day!

C. I have 970 years left on my detached house. I pay £35 per annum ground rent. They want £4000.00 from me to buy the freehold! Seems very high to me as the previous owner was quoted £1000 in 2001. I would certainly welcome your thoughts as a professional. I wish to extend and the fee is expensive so I looked at buying instead.QUOTE=Jeffrey Shaw;8090295]A. That was over nineteen months ago, so I doubt that the member will reply.

B. You yourself are the leaseholder, I think. You're scarcely ripping-off yourself!

C. So it's the freehold reversioner against whom you have a grievance. What's going wrong?

[jeff2112 10]

4th post one more to go