Purchasing house with 54yrs left on lease

[Poj McDodge]

Hi Everyone

I need some advice on buying a leasehold house.

I was going to buy a the property ( a repossession ) on the understanding it was freehold, when my solicitor received the hips it was only then discovered it is a leasehold with 54 years remaining out of the 99.

I have pulled out of the deal but I am still interested in purchasing it but need to do some research to make sure the figures will stack up. My plan was to do a quick renovation in 2 months spending no more than £5k and sell it on ASAP, I was going to buy @ £102k and easily obtain £120K possibly more. I could scrape together enough to buy it for cash but I was planning to buy it on a BTL mortgage.
My solicitor has wrote to the leaseholders with the view of purchasing the lease but I have been looking at other threads on the forum and I have only seen situations where the lease is extended.

I need to know the time frames involved in either extending or buying the lease.

The ground rent is £19 pa.

I don’t want to own another property for rental as the ones I have already got are taking up enough time but
I would consider renting the house out but would look at remortgaging ASAP to free up the equity to buy something else to sell on, I wouldn’t move it on if I had a good long term tenant in situ.

I understand from other posts I could extend the lease after owning the property for 2 years.

What are the likely costs involved in extending or buying leaseholds?

Thanks for any advice.

[Poppy]

Very muddled. I think you are asking about buying the freehold of a leasehold house from the freeholders. May I invite you to pose a couple of concise questions please.

[jeffrey]

My solicitor has wrote to the leaseholders with the view of purchasing the lease but I have been looking at other threads on the forum and I have only seen situations where the lease is extended...

I understand from other posts I could extend the lease after owning the property for 2 years.

This is a house, so forget lease extension; focus on buying the freehold reversion. Your reference to My solicitor has [written] to the leaseholders with the view of purchasing the lease is wrong- whoever is selling the repossessed property already has powers to dispose of the leasehold, whereas you're seeking the f/r. That's what Poppy briefly mentioned in post #2 as I was drafting this post #3.

Yes, a house's leaseholder has statutory rights after two years' leaseholdership. Sadly, you cannot make V serve Notice of Claim as V is only a mortgagee. Is it possible to locate and contact the defaulting mortgagor?

[Poj McDodge]

Thanks both for the replies.

Poppy

I agree it is muddled as I am unfamiliar with the terminology, I have bought / sold 11 properties but none of them have been leasehold. I think your description is correct, in my basic terminology I want to buy the property as a leasehold and eventually own it as a freehold. I can then sell it or rent out.

I need advice on what happens in-between such as.

Time frames

Typical costs

Jeffrey

Are you stating the mortgage company selling the property should be able to purchase the freehold ? We did suggest this and pay the agreed price but they were not interested. I don’t think it is possible to find the defaulting mortgagor, they were also BTL investors who bought the house through one of these BMV locating companies. The house was bought from and then rented back to the original owners just over a year ago. Following the purchase no mortgage was paid. My solicitor has contacted the owners of the freehold with the view to buying it.

I have found the following from a similar thread, so will check it out.

You can download free info on leasehold house enfranchisement from www.lease-advice.org under "publications".

To find the LVT prices for buying the freeholds of leasehold houses , go to www.rpts.gov.uk

[jeffrey]

Are you stating the mortgage company selling the property should be able to purchase the freehold ? We did suggest this and pay the agreed price but they were not interested. I don’t think it is possible to find the defaulting mortgagor, they were also BTL investors who bought the house through one of these BMV locating companies.
No, I was suggesting that you try to contact the defaulting mortgagor (who might have had capacity to serve a Notice of Claim). As you can't, and because the mortgagee has no right to do so, you'll have to choose:
a. to buy as is, and wait two years to serve; or
b. to try and strike a non-statutory deal to purchase from L.

[TomMerralls]

In terms of legal costs for a Buy Freehold Of House, you're probably looking at about £2,000 + VAT, but remember you need to pay your own surveyor's costs, and the professional costs of the freeholder (budget for same as your own legal/valuation costs).

Time frame = typically up to a year in non-complex matters, from the date you instruct your solicitor.

[Gordon999]

Are you located in Bury ?

This LVT judgement for on house with 54 years lease may help you :

http://www.rpts.gov.uk/Files/2009/May/00001VAI.pdf

[Poj McDodge]

Thank you for the info guys, i can't see this house selling in a hurry so i will wait and see what my solicitor comes up with.