Is there any way of finding out how much leasehold....

[M400 NBL]

I am in the process of selling my maisonette. It is a victorian conversion of which I am the lease holder and the basement maisonette is the free holder.

I bought it over 5 years ago and can't remember exactly how much lease is unexpired. I thought it was over 80 years but wanted to be sure before submitting the particulars to the EA.

I asked the EA that lets out the maisonette below to ask the question on my behalf and he has told me that the lease is 86 years unexpired and that ground rent/maintenance is £600 per year. When I bought it, the groundrent/maintenance was £50 per annum (not mistaken for £50 per month) and that was a good selling point for my place over others. This is the first I have heard of this new charge and wonder if it is because they are now trying to sell. It is a good selling point for the freeholder.

Can they increase ground rent/maint by this much without negotiating and is ther a way of finding out the lease just in case that has been changed also.

I know it was previously £50/annum because a friend bought the freehold maisonette and waivered it because I was the first point of contact if his tenant needed help. Also, the developer that bought before him waivered the £50 for a copy of my buildings insurance.

Any help would be much appreciated. I know that a solicitor would find this out but i'd rather know before getting that far down the line.

Thanks

[stevieb]

Check the copy of your deeds..

The solicitor should have gave youa copy of them before sending the originals to the mortgage company.

steve

[FUBAR]

Couple of points Gary. From what I can make out from your post, your ground rent was and still is £50pa and your maintenance is £550pa which goes into a 'sinking fund' for general maint and also any major stuff that may come up in the future. AFAIK the freeholder or his managing agents must send you accounts (or provide them if requested) detailing the funds in the maintenance fund and any future major expenditure.

Increases in the ground rent are normally fixed in the lease and 'most' of the ones Ive seen normally increase the ground rent amounts every 33 years or so (although they do jump up each time. Last one I dealt with went from £50 to £300 and then up to £800 or so, but that is 65 odd years down the line)

Just worth remembering (though if you are about to sell may not be so important on your case) is that the leaseholder has, afaik, an automatic right to extend the lease terms, making it more 'saleable' (leasehold properties with less than 70 years to run start to become unmortgageable, or at the least, reduce the number of lenders willing to help you)

This may help you www.lease-advice.org.uk/legsframe.htm (also has a section on service charges etc from www.lease-advice.org.uk ). IIRC the critical timescale for lease extensions is 80 years. Before that the cost to extend is relatively nominal, but once you dip below the 80 years price to extend the lease increases quite a bit (something to do with 'marriage value'). The value of your leasehold should not be affected if the remaining lease is in excess of the 80 years, but will/may be affected as the remaining lease term diminishes.

Im not an expert, so recommend you take proper leagl adivce and also speak to a surveyor who specialises in lease renewals.

Hope that helps?

[FUBAR]

FUBAR said:

Just worth remembering (though if you are about to sell may not be so important on your case) is that the leaseholder has, afaik, an automatic right to extend the lease terms, making it more 'saleable' (leasehold properties with less than 70 years to run start to become unmortgageable, or at the least, reduce the number of lenders willing to help you)

This may help you www.lease-advice.org.uk/legsframe.htm (also has a section on service charges etc from www.lease-advice.org.uk ). IIRC the critical timescale for lease extensions is 80 years. Before that the cost to extend is relatively nominal, but once you dip below the 80 years price to extend the lease increases quite a bit (something to do with 'marriage value'). The value of your leasehold should not be affected if the remaining lease is in excess of the 80 years, but will/may be affected as the remaining lease term diminishes.

Just thought I should add, may be worth pointing this out to any perspective purchaser, especially if they try to negotiate the price down 'due to the lease term being so short'

Id like to be able to see an 86 year lease out to the end

[billsnemesis]

FUBAR has the gist of it but it's worth adding that there are complex statutory controls over residential service charge. £550 a year for your sort of property sounds bowlocks to me

I have an almost identical scenario, I own the upstairs maisonette and the freehold, the flat downstairs is on a long lease and repairs to the property are shared. I don't think we have done more than three or four major jobs in the 20 years we have owned it and the largest of those was about a grand

Insurance is about a few hundred a year and we take 40% off the other owner based on floor area

I would only expect £550 service charge on a large block requiring managing agents, landscaping, car parking, internal lighting and heating and long term provision for sinking funds eg for roofing

You are entitled to information on service charge and without it the costs are not recoverable. They also have to be reasonable

The 80 year rule on lease extensions is correct and it is marriage value. If I were in your position I would extend now to keep the cost down and remove it from the worries on selling

[M400 NBL]

Thanks all for your replies.

I also think that £600/year is too steep for a converted victorian villa. I have 2 storeys and a loft.

It would make more sense if I lived in a block of flats that required a gardener and decorator but the garden belongs to the freeholder anyway.

I can't remember where I put the deeds. Embarrassing I know but I bought it needing a lot of work and so the deeds could be anywheer...including at my Fathers.

Is there a way of paying for a copy of the deeds from the Land Registry or whoever else may have them?

[billsnemesis]

Just download the forms from the land registry website, it costs a few pounds for each copy. Some of the information looks technical but you can phone the enquiry line for help

[M400 NBL]

I have now requested a copy of the deeds from my mortgage lender.

I have a feeling that the freeholder is trying it on. I know for a fact that the last 2 freeholders (it was bought by a developer and had a bedroom added, then sold to my friend who rented it out) only charged £50 per year but waived it for reasons already explained.

I'll have to wait and see.

It cost me £35 for a copy of the lease for anyone else that is in the same position as me.

Thanks all that relied. I will post the details of my deeds when I get them.