Coppen Estates. . . .Sheffield

[feline01]

Please can you give me an idea as to the approximate cost to the client for a Solicitor to serve Notice of Claim.

Thank You

[Quint]

Yes. you see, Coppen has no obligation to reply to how much it would be to buy the lease or extend it.

Plus: you meant "...to buy the freehold reversion or extend the lease"; you do already own the lease!

 

What your solicitors should have done is to serve Notice of Claim, forcing the freehold reversioner to respond.

 

So why on earth would Coppen not tell me this from the start? Surely my first port of call as where to extend or buy the lease would be the people who i pay my ground rent to?

 

My experience with Coppen has been one of total disappointment and frustration and hope no else has to endure the same issues i have had with them. You only need to do a bit of internet research to see im not the only person who has had a bad experience with them!

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Because Coppen is:

a. honest and trustworthy, compared to many freehold reversion investors; but

b. not good at dealing with all correspondence- hence serving Notice is the way to go.

 

Yes, the freehold reversioner is the right place to contact- but doing it formally works better than informally!

 

---------- Post added 12-02-2013 at 12:27 ----------

 

Please can you give me an idea as to the approximate cost to the client for a Solicitor to serve Notice of Claim.

I'd be charging £250 to cover cost of:

a. new client file;

b. diagnostic work (checking who owns what); and

c. preparing/serving the Notice.

 

Including VAT and disbursements (out-of-pocket expenses), it would come to about £320.

[Jennifer8]

Although you might consider Coppen "a pain", the Company is reputable/honest/local- a novelty when one considers certain freehold reversion investors (London-based). The worst that one might say of Coppen is that it takes a while to reply to correspondence, but at least it's trustworthy and so are the family who run it (Shaun Pennington). No, I don't act for them!

 

Myself and my partner are currently in the process of buying a leasehold property which we have been informed that Coppen Estates Ltd are the freeholders. We have been waiting for nearly 4 months now due to Coppen Estates Ltd not providing proof that the ground rent payments are up to date which the estate agents and solicitors have told us this is necessary for our purchase to proceed. Even though the ground rent payments are up to date and the vendor can prove this we still have to wait for confirmation of this from Coppen Estates Ltd and I am not sure what else we can do to move this forward. The solicitors and estate agents have been contacting them daily which Coppen Estates Ltd keep promising different time frames of when they will provide this by however they never keep there promises and we still continue to wait.

 

My opinion of them from this is already low and this is before we have had any dealings with them after buying the house. This is starting to put doubts into our minds of whether to actually go through with this purchase after waiting so long.

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Your solicitor could arrange:

a. Indemnity Insurance to protect you (but at V's expense); and

b. that V serve Notice of Claim on Coppen, seeking to buy the freehold reversion, but that V then merely assigns its benefit to you on completion. You could thereafter buy-out Coppen without having to wait the statutory two years in order to qualify for serving your own Notice.

[woggle]

We tried to buy the lease from them back in 2004, they told us we had to use their solicitor at a cost of £500, they didnt reply to any more correspondence so we gave up. I found them very unhelpful.

Edited March 24, 2014 by woggle

[Jeffrey Shaw]

We tried to buy the lease from them back in 2004, they told us we had to use their solicitor at a cost of £500, they didnt reply to any more correspondence so we gave up. I found them very unhelpful.

1. No, you already owned the lease. You tried to buy the freehold reversion.

2. No, you didn't have to use Coppen's solicitor; BUT the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 makes you responsible- having served a Notice of Claim- for paying its solicitors' legal fees.

3. And no- Coppen has no obligation to reply to mere correspondence. That's why serving a Notice of Claim is the only real way to proceed.

[Spinkey]

Hi

 

Does anyone have any experience of trying to buy a leasehold from Coppens via a solicitor before the two year statutory period has arisen. Are they normally Ok to do this or is waiting out the 2 year statutory period the way to go ?

 

Sarah

[Jeffrey Shaw]

Hi

 

Does anyone have any experience of trying to buy a leasehold** from Coppens via a solicitor before the two year statutory period has arisen. Are they normally Ok to do this or is waiting out the 2 year statutory period the way to go ?

** Er, you mean "...buy a freehold reversion.."; you already own the leasehold, don't you?

 

Yes, you could approach Coppen sooner than two years. However:

a. Coppen may well not reply to your letters; and

b. your negotiating position re price is very weak; because

c. only by serving a statutory Notice of Claim [LRA1] can you propel it into action; and that necessitates two years' leaseholdership, assuming that what you own is a house.

[Spinkey]

Yes you are right, it is buying the freehold reversion and we do own the house. We are in no rush but had it on our radar to purchase at the 2 year point (next january) when we would be more likely to get a response. I was wondering if there was any mileage in trying now via a solicitor to purchase or whether just to wait until January. I am reluctant to spend on solicitors letters now if I'm unlikely to get a response.

 

My understanding of Coppens is that they are reasonably fair though slow - tell me if I'm wrong. What would you say was a reasonable time span these days to expect a transaction to go through if a notice is served.