FREEHOLD PURCHASE

5 years ago

Any help or advice would be very gratefully received from anyone with any experience/ knowledge of this process!

We recently purchased a 3 bed leasehold maisonette in North London. We would like to purchase the Freehold together with our neighbour so that we each have an equal share of the Freehold.

We have taken initial legal advice from a solicitor specialising in this area of property law, and while they are clear on the costs of the legal process, which seem to run to several thousands and with the possibility of also requiring to meet the Freeholders legal costs (assuming they are willing to sell) there seems to be no advice on what we might expect to pay the freeholder to purchase the Freehold. I’d be really grateful if anyone has either any experience of going through this process or can offer any advice on what we might reasonably expect to pay for both the Freehold and the legal costs to do so. Our current lease is a very old one, 999 years (dated 1957) so 900+ years to run, with a ground rent of £5 per year. The current Freeholders were unaware until recently that they actually owned the Freehold (inherited) and they have so far made no contact for ground rent payments.

Many thanks in advance!

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Comments (4)

Jonathan
5 years ago
When you have a short remaining lease it is important to buy the freehold to improve the properties resale possibilities. Owning the freehold helps control any management costs which the freeholder is entitled to charge. If you have an absent freeholder you may struggle to get permission for changes you want to make.

You need to consider if any of these reasons apply to this situation to work out if it is important to buy the freehold and to justify the cost.

I am unable to advice on the price tag for the freehold
J C
Original Author
5 years ago
Many thanks Jonathan,
It’s possible that the fact that we have a 900+ lease the cost couldn’t be justified as you suggest but I’d be really interested to hear from anyone with experience in, or knowledge of buying a Freehold in similar circumstances.......if there’s anyone out there!!

Thanks Again, Jennifer
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PRO
Burgess Kitchens Ltd
5 years ago
We bought the freehold on two flats and one maisonettes about two years ago as a shared freehold. The leases were only about 70 years. You can find a calculator online which works out what you should pay depending on lease length, value of property and ground rent. However we found that after two abortive attempts, we ended up paying a random figure calculated by the existing freeholder. We also paid his solicitor fees. As far as I recall we paid about £35k in total. We then set up a company limited by guarantee to manage the funds and maintenance works.
J C
Original Author
5 years ago
Many thanks for this information.....very helpful! Jennifer

FREEHOLD PURCHASE

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Jonathan

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Comments (4)

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