Cost of Freehold

Hi,

I was wondering if anyone had recently purchased (within the last 2 years) the freehold for a house on the crown estate and if so would they mind letting me know roughly how much they paid. I have spoken with The Crown Estate's solicitors but they will not tell me what people pay for the freehold as they want to protect the Crown Estate's commercial interests. Just to find out what the freehold would cost I need to pay the solicitors in the region of £1,000. So if anyone has any comments so I can get a rough idea of how much it costs before having to pay the solicitors it would be gratefully received. It's possible that due to the length left on the leaseholds there may be several people thinking along the same lines?

Thanks

Mark

Dear All - please see below the email I received from Nicci Talbot

I notice from the minutes of March’s meeting that the issue of the cost of fees for processing enfranchisement claims was raised.



Cluttons and Pemberton Greenish act on behalf of the Crown Estate where claims are made so any costs that we incur will be passed onto the leaseholder.

This is a complex area and I generally advise leaseholders to obtain their own expert advice before contacting Cluttons so they can understand the process and be assured that the price they agree with us is reasonable.



The Leasehold Advisory Service: http://www.lease-advice.org/newintro.htm is an excellent place to start and I would be grateful if you could circulate the website address to other members of the committee, who can pass the information on if they get any queries from fellow leaseholders who want to buy their freehold or extend their leases. The site also has general information covering all aspects of leasehold ownership and I sometimes use it myself to clarify issues!

Mark

I know of several people on the estate that have raised the issue of purchasing the freehold, however I don't know of anyone yet that has started the process. I have 75 (ish) years left on my lease and so am in the same position.

If you make any progress I'd be interested in hearing about it.

Alison

Hi there. My partner Sharlene and I recently brought a long lease in St Agnes close. If the Crown Estate Commissioners decide to sell the freehold to a third party then we will exercise our right of first refusal and buy the freehold for the house. Sharlene is a writer at the FT and has done a few articles on freehold rights. I'll link you to one that sets out the basics : http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/4aaedfa0-4aa0-11db-8738-0000779e2340.html. This one applies to flats, but the same fees apply to houses. With a house you automatically have the right to buy the freehold (no 50% of tenants required), and you can operate alone.

Unfortunately, in your case it seems that the lease is less than 80 years which is problematic, as that is the point at which you will incur the marriage fee, which is the biggest cost of buying a freehold. I wouldn't want to give you advice, as I'm not an expert. Hope this helps,

Jim

Thanks Jim for the useful link. We may also give the freehold issue more serious consideration now that the Crown are going to sell. Again I would suggest if there are several home owners who are thinking along the same lines we could perhaps get together to negotiate the cost as a group as we may get a better deal.

Mark

Yes, I'd join a consortium to find out the cost of purchasing a longer lease. Mine is now down under 70 years.
Living in the 1-18 Pennethorne Close building I'm excluded from buying the freehold unless I buy all 18.
Keep me posted please.

Ray

I'm in the same block as you. I'd be interested in extending our lease but not interested in buying the freehold. I have no experience of or interest in managing a block of flats and I'm fairly sure we'd all end up engaging a managing agent. Don't know about you but I don't think Lamberts are at all bad.

Claire

Hello everyone,

I live in a flat in Pennethorne Close 1-18 and I recently extended my lease, which was down to 72 years. All in all with fees it cost about £20,000. Ouch.

Hope that helps.

Jason

poodlefish wrote:Ray

I'm in the same block as you. I'd be interested in extending our lease but not interested in buying the freehold. I have no experience of or interest in managing a block of flats and I'm fairly sure we'd all end up engaging a managing agent. Don't know about you but I don't think Lamberts are at all bad.

Claire

Hi Claire. From what I know, if you entered in a consortium for the freehold, you could quite easily remain as part of the estate and come under the same management. If the Crown have their way, then it won't be Lamberts for much longer anyway, so with the freehold ownership it would merely allow you more freedom to break away if you so choose. There really are no benefits to staying leasehold.

Hi, I live in the Northiam St Tower and am interested in any group wanting to discuss / find out more about extending leases / or buying freeholds. My lease is less than 70 years, and it seems like a costly process to increase the length of the lease. I think most of the flats in our block are owned rather than rented now, but I don't know if people would want to buy the freehold and manage the block directly. Lamberts have been helpful and responsive in my experience, although I guess their days may be numbered if the Crown sells us off!

For those who have extended leases - how long did the process take? And what are proportion of the sum paid was for legal fees? Perhaps if there were several of us wanting to explore this we could negotiate a better deal?

Eleanor

Hi there,

My lease extension took about 6 months or so. It is expensive because as well as the actual cost of the lease you have to pay yours and the Crown's legal fees. I think this came to about £3000 on top. It's a very expensive business. But you have to set that against it getting more expensive the more your lease goes down I suppose.

Hope that helps.

JAson

Thanks to all contributors on this theme.
The proposed CE Commissioners "Sale" has sharpened my focus on extending my lease. In a nutshell, if the sale goes through, with a consequence that the "charges" increase, then I may be forced to move on.
Unfortunately I am now down to 67/8 years left, so selling to someone requiring a mortgage seems nigh on impossible.
Is there anybody on the estate anywhere, who is SERIOUSLY interested in joining me in extending their lease, with the commitment to see it through?
My theory being to instruct one set of "legal beagles" for all interested parties would / should save money.
As I rarely look here for update postings, can I request all comments to be AND/OR dropped off in my number 6 letter box please?
I’d be pleased to meet up for a chat too, just to start the ball rolling, if that’s ok with you?

INTERESTED PARTIES, PLEASE MAKE YOURSELVES KNOWN TO ME. Thanks

Regards, Ray