"whisky-dave" wrote in message
...
On Monday, 6 June 2016 20:33:07 UTC+1, tim... wrote:
"dennis@home" wrote in message
web.com...
On 06/06/2016 12:44, tim... wrote:

"dennis@home" wrote in message
eb.com...
On 06/06/2016 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.

I also sympathise with the OP trying to get good advice - they will
find
(as has already happened) any mention of freehold purchase will be
assumed to refer to flats.

We were trying to buy our freehold from the day we moved in. The
roadblock we hit was calculating what it was *worth*. If you want to
go
down the proper route, it involves you - and the freeholder -
arguing
over what a surveyor says the property is worth as a starting point.
(Guess who pays for the freeholders surveyor ????!!!!). So you are
looking at having to spend some cash upfront.

This leaves a gap in the market for a class of "freehold
consultants"
who
offer to handle the negotiations for you. We were contacted by one
who
claimed to be "in the area". Unfortunately the fact *he* came to
*us*
meant he could never pass the smell test, and we never used him,
despite
his helpfully reminding us of his existence.

Then one day - out of the blue - the doorbell rings. It was the
freeholder asking if we were interested in buying the freehold. We
chatted and a sum was agreed which seemed about right, so we got a
solicitor and bought it. SWMBO had previously spoken with him on the
phone, and I have to say he was as sleazy in person as she had
described
him.

I also will never shake the feeling the freehold consultant and
freeholder were in collusion. Given the tortuous and opaque nature
of
the
process, it's easy to envisage a scheme whereby chummy boy pretends
to
"negotiate" with the freeholder and get the grateful homeowner to
cough
up over the odds without going through (and paying for) the surveyor
bunfight.


There is a law that says the freehold has to be offered and at a
maximum rate of 22 times the ground rent.

no there isn't

No there isn't what a right or a maximum?

there isn't a maximum (well there is, it's the amount that the tribunal
assesses if you take it that far, but it isn't a simple calculation that
you
can do for yourself)


OK what is it then,

It's the sum that the tribunal's experts assess as the value.

as I've just gone through this.
Think it's called a section 42.

But basically the leasholder tells you how much they want and this is just
to increase the lease extention . If yuo don;t agree with that amount you
go through a solicitor who will tell you to get a surveyor in which you
pay for.
Then they get a surveyor in which you pay for. They come up with their
figures
and come back to you with a new one. If you don't agree then that's that
no leasehold extention, unless you take it to a tribuneral.

Yep

so you take it to the tribunal (for which you pay).

and then when they have come up with their value that IS the maximum value
that the FH can charge for the selling/extending the lease (today).

But getting a figure for that maximum value requires a lot of work and
expense by the purchaser.

There is not a simple finger in the air value for it (which was the point at
issue).

tim