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I posted a question recently about what you would do if you were given 200k. The kind reply I received raised another question so I have posted in this new thread. We purchased a leasehold property and it has pretty much been a nightmare. I feel quite embarrassed to admit the following but I guess that is what somehow drove me to look into a property portfolio - i.e. You seem to learn SO much the first time round and would never do it the same again...I wont give you all the blow by blows, but here it is in a nutshell: During completion (probate sale), the freeholder was almost entirely absent when it came to filling in the legal paperwork required. We only were told things like "he is seeing his solicitor this week"....(2 weeks pass) "you will get everything you need by tomorrow"....(3 weeks pass)..."he is actually on holidays for 3 months and not contactable". We were paying with cash and in then end, our solicitor somehow convinced us it was OK to go ahead without him filling out and supplying: 1. the leaseholder questionnaire 2. a copy of his building insurance (he owns the flat above us). Anyway essentially we have a phone number for him (that it turns out isn't actually his). An email address that he sometimes answers (after weeks if you are very lucky). And a home address (which he very quickly gave me when I had a ground rent cheque to send)... It has left us feeling very much exposed...Anyway when all this started, I assumed there would be a strong leasehold watch dog / advisory service that would be able to give us some muscle. After a huge amount of work it seems that if you have a problem as a leaseholder you are in a far worse position than if you were renting...i.e. an agent who can be a middle person. Have any of you had nightmare problems with freeholders and what did you do? Is there a service out there that I can use (aside from the leasehold advisory service who were not much help)? If we ever want to let this property out and buy somewhere else (thats the plan), I can foresee big problems in getting permission from the freeholder for things like painting the outside of the house / repairing drains / putting a fence up etc. Essentially all the things I might need to move on quickly as a landlord to someone, but need quick responses from the freeholder about... Look forward to any insight and sorry for the very long message!!

Would you pay £10,000 to buy share of freehold in a building (along with 20 other flat owners in block of 30 flats) if the current flat lease length is 990 years anyway? I look forward to advice! Thank you.