Freehold question

[BobSaunders]

Hi,

Quick one - bought my house two years ago, it is a terraced property - number 3 of a row of five on a managed estate.

I have queried to buy the freehold as it was not available with the property at time of purchase.

I have been advised by the management company that their client is looking to retain their freeholds at this moment in time, and therefore can not offer sale at this moment in time.

Before i go and speak to my solicitor and it costing myself money - is there any advice out there on what to do next? can i request it to be sold to me?

Property is in England, built circa 2012 by David Wilson homes.

Thanks, Matt

[BobSaunders]

Thank you moderators for moving to the correct forum - did not realise this one existed!

[BobSaunders]

JacquesMesrine said:

I seem to remember that there are some rules where they must offer you a price to purchase, although they can make this simply ridiculous and therefore not viable.

Why do you want to buy it? The NW is full of leasehold properties, most start out at 999 years, so you've probably got 995 years left on it. No buyers will be put off by leasehold properties in the NW, despite what others around the country will probably bang on about in this thread.

Good challenge - but simply, we have the money. I also do not want to be paying service charges for non-existent service charges on the estate. The estate has a number of buildings with flats on it, all costs are attributed to the flats and their grounds. The accountancy figures are somewhat suspect - considerable rounding up of costs. The roads are now owned by the council so there is no cost attributed to this now.

I do not see much point in paying a yearly charge north of £500 for something i get no value from.

Thanks in advance.

[BobSaunders]

dingg said:

BobSaunders said:

Hi,

Quick one - bought my house two years ago, it is a terraced property - number 3 of a row of five on a managed estate.

I have queried to buy the freehold as it was not available with the property at time of purchase.

I have been advised by the management company that their client is looking to retain their freeholds at this moment in time, and therefore can not offer sale at this moment in time.

Before i go and speak to my solicitor and it costing myself money - is there any advice out there on what to do next? can i request it to be sold to me?

Property is in England, built circa 2012 by David Wilson homes.

Thanks, Matt

How long is the lease?

do nothing next - you can't force the leaseholder to sell you the freehold

the question is why did you enter the purchase 2 years ago if you weren't happy without the freehold?

IANAL

Hi, thanks for responding. Not sure on the exact number of years on the lease - its a lot, but within the next couple of years the cost grows exponentially.

We did not have the money at the time to buy it, as it was not available with the property, and it was not a risk to us (it still is not).

Now due to favourable circumstances and luck, we have the money, and rather than a new car i would prefer the leasehold.

Thanks!

[BobSaunders]

alfie2244 said:

Do they all come under the same freehold? If so it may be easier, with the other leaseholders (if they qualify) to form a management company and compel the freeholder to sell to you. There are routes to determine a fair price if the freeholder asks silly money, but you would be liable to pay all the freeholder's costs as well as your own.

My experience was a converted building with 6 flats that I owned the freehold of so not sure if it would work the same way for a terrace of houses......

This is a good site for info:

http://www.lease-advice.org/publications/documents...

Thanks. Next door purchased his at time of buying from DW Homes.

I'll have a word with the other houses in the row and see what they say about the above.

I've read that you can determine a fair price through solicitors and conveyors - i am hoping to avoid this by contacting the freehold owner direct and agreeing mutually.

The estate management company are being difficult, but i have requested contact details of the freehold owner - which i believe they re obliged to give, or i will go to the land registry.