Buying a flat which has mixed freehold and leasehold

[JohnnyUK]

Hi

We're looking to purchase a flat for "cash" to let out.

One of the attractions was the estate agent calling it "Freehold."

As we've progressed through the legal process, we seem to have stumbled into a weird (to us) situation, where (to use the estate agent's words) "each flat owns each other's freehold" and "it's quite common in small blocks as it keeps ground rent charges minimal."

So, for example, the TR1 form (deeds txfer) seems to imply we're buying two flats to my IANAL eyes!

We have a call set up for tomorrow with our solicitor but wondered if anyone else has experience of this construct and what questions I should be asking?

Thanks in advance!

John

[HughT4]

Very common.
These small blocks of flats tend to all be leasehold flats, but you own a share of the freehold.
This often means there is no external management company charging to administer the freehold.
As long as there is a lease (ideally over 90 years) - which is where your mortgage will be secured, you'll be fine. if its under 90 years
Make sure there is a management agreement set up with the other fellow shareholders/owners.

Don't get distracted by agents saying "freehold" - the flat is most likely (long) leasehold, you will just own a "share of the freehold".

[HughT4]

or to rephrase -
the freehold is owned by all the owners combined - either as each member listed, or as a company owning the freehold (for which you will most likely be shareholders and directors of the company) - which will mean you own xx% of the freehold.

[Numpty with honours]

I think you might be referring to a Tyneside Lease and is explained in the following link

https://www.lease-advice.org/article/tyneside-leas...

[JohnnyUK]

Thanks both!

Now, why my solicitor couldn't have said that after 4 email conversations I don't know!

Thanks again!

[VTC]

we had a flat and owned 50% of the freehold
it was a PITA
the other freeholder was in Australia
when we came to sell they had to sign TR1 docs
they dragged their sorry asses as did the solicitors
the sale took 10months
and we had to pay solicitor fees as the other freeholder was not interested in our sale.

the mortgage offer expired 24hrs before the docs arrived back in the UK even after I had asked them to use DHL express.
they decided not to.

it could be an advantage but it can also add another problem to the mix.

[98elise]

Numpty with honours said:

I think you might be referring to a Tyneside Lease and is explained in the following link

https://www.lease-advice.org/article/tyneside-leas...

Never heard of that before, every day is a school day!