On 06/06/16 09:21, Jethro_uk wrote:
On Sun, 05 Jun 2016 22:55:33 +0100, RJH wrote:

On 05/06/2016 14:06, R D S wrote:
Has anyone bought their freehold?

My shop is leasehold, I pay 57p every 6 months and the bill always
includes a letter reminding me that if I want to break wind, I need to
ask them first and enclose a cheque for £120 for which they will check
the lease and advise whether I am permitted to do so.

So i'd like to buy the lease at least on the shop. Has anyone done this
and if so how was the process and what did it cost?

Value approx 70k, 850 yrs remaining on the lease.


ISTR that, for my house (similarly low rent and long lease), the owner
of the freehold wanted £500 plus the legal costs.

One of the snags is that the purchaser has to pay the
freeloaders^H^H^H^H^H^H^Hholders legall costs too. SO irrespective of the
value of the freehold, there's a baseline of c. £2k.

I get where the OP is coming from. We bought a leasehold house, and one
of the covenants dictated which insurer we used. We could use a different
one, but the lease insisted it be approved by the freeholder. AT *our*
expense (£60). Which meant we paid over the odds for insurance for 10
years.

Did you ever take legal advice to see if that was enforceable?

I have a covenant that is ancient that says to build anything, I need to
write to the interested party's estate and enclose a fee of one guinea
(yes it's that old). My solicitor laughed and said "sod that" and "come
back later and take out some indemnity insurance for £60 in case it ever
shows up during a sale"