leasehold house purchase need advice..

[pneumothorax]

about to buy cottage in old windsor, 330k.maybe i'm stupid but beginning to feel its a bad idea, its leasehold, with 75 yrs left. some people are advising me not to touch with bargepole. any advice really appreciated.

[Eric Mc]

Leaseholds often have serious restrictions. Find out if there are any on if there are, what they are.

[ysnnim]

Solicitor should advise on status of lease (that's would you pay them for) - however I would suggest lease is 'renewed' to at least 100 years before considering purchase (with no cost to you).

Just 2pence worth (seasonally adjusted)

[minimax]

consider how long you plan to keep the property

have you got the property for a discount because of the short lease?

bear in mind that come resale time most lenders require at least 30 years on top of whatever the term remaining is on the mortgage used to buy the property so that leaves 55 years usually needing to be left on the lease = 20 years before value starts to seriously drop

can you get the lease extended a few hundred years? that's what I would feel most comfortable with

[Prof Higgins]

My understanding is that regulations have moved in favour of leaseholders over the last few years, with more rights to purchase the freehold and/or rights to extend etc. However can still be far more hassle than just buying a freehold property - if you have your doubts about it now then you can reasonably expect the same of prospective buyers when you come to sell it on.

Having said all that, if the price is right and the property is unique and it is the one you want to live in, then just buy it.

Any idea who the freeholder is, might well find its the Old Liz (Crown Estates) if its Windsor, this could be also be a good or a bad thing if it ever does get messy.

[pneumothorax]

thanks everyone. good sage advice. it is fairly unique and can see myself living in it for 5-10 years. knowing nothing about this sort of thing i have advised my solicitor to enquire as to how much and how we'd go about extending the lease to over 100 yrs and then i am going to suggest to vendor that he pay this before exchanging. i think this is a reasonable approach given buyers market and all that...what do you think??doesnt sound from advice so far that this is a stupid venture.... as one estate agent contact has suggested...

[thepeoplespal]

Prof Higgins is right as far as I am aware, I've seen references to it in some property pages in the last week or so (I'll try and find a link) in the mean time some of these might help www.odpm.gov.uk/stellent/groups/odpm_housing/documents/divisionhomepage/033597.hcsp

[bga]

IIRC if you are having trouble extending a lease & you still want the house, you can inhabit the house for 2 years & have a legal right to extend it after this time.

If the freeholder refuses or quotes a stupid price, it needs to go to the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal - although apparently it is a convoluted process.

You may want to call the Leasehold Advisory service on 020 7490 9580, they gave us good advice when we extended the lease on our flat.

[Rich25]

Wouldnt go to arbitrators - very expensive and will take AGES. I am having similar situation with a property Im purchasing at the moment. I feel that the easiest way is to negotiate with vendors to reduce purchase cost (for half/full value of lease extension depending on how good your bargaining is), bearing in mind that any potential buyer will have this objection.

Alternatively, get the existing owner to apply for the lease extension for you as they will likely have been there longer than the two year period. This will then automatically transfer to your name when you purchase the property and you will see the remainder of the process through.