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Hi all, Really hope someone can provide some guidance here. My greedy freeholder wants to charge me £130 for our sublet. Fortunately, I listened to episode 228 the day after receiving the letter from them and was encouraged to hear Rob thoughts that this was outrageous and a fair price would be £40. I printed off the template provided and sent it off to the freeholder. Last week, I got a response (attached). Basically they're saying they're well within their rights to charge what they want and quote some other cases where similar decisions have been made. Has anyone else been in this situation or do you have any advice on how I should proceed? From what I can say I need to pay but would love to get some feedback as this is something I know little about. Thanks so much in advance Phil

I am currently part exchanging my apartment with a developer in order to buy a house from them. They have stated they require a Deed of Variation to change the lease because of a similar issue. My ground rent is £250pa, which turns the 141 years left on the lease in to an AST lease. So they want me to pay for the change of the lease so that the ground rent falls in line with the 0.1% mark, making it £180pa. I have no idea if the freeholder will accept this, and if they don’t whether the developer will pull out of my PX? Any help would be appreciated! Dan

Does anyone have experience of Comptons as managing agent and freeholder, some poor reviews in the web. I’m looking at a property where they run the management company and I think think they own the freehold. The communal areas look well maintained but there are a couple of issues. Thanks

Hello everyone! I wonder if anyone has any experience or knowledge about my situation: I'm currently in the process of applying to our freeholder for permission to change the use of a very small (21 sq M) commercial unit into a residential studio flat. Its zone 2, London. He is asking for 15% of the uplift value in exchange for granting permission. Calculation: End value of new residential studio minus original value of commercial unit plus refurb costs. 15% of that total. We will be aiming for as high spec as possible (appropriate to size) to gain maximum valuation for re-financing. Currently our figures predict 15% will be around 10K plus additional legal fees for both parties. So my question is: Does this seem a lot/ average/ not much in others' experience? It seems high to me but reasonable to the freeholder (I imagine!). Apparently this is what our neighbour paid to convert a larger unit next door. They probably know that there is no plan B to keep it as a retail space. Any info or experience to share relevant to this situation would be much appreciated. Thanks so much in advance! Nat

Hi Everyone, I am in process of letting a flat, previously my own home, in Manchester City Centre. I wrote to the freeholder for consent to let, who requested £120+VAT to process a Notice of Underletting. Right on cue, I got Rob's Property Geek's Newsletter advising about the recent tribunal case which ruled they cannot charge more than £40+VAT. Following the advise, I replied to my freeholder, referring to the tribunal case and offering to pay £40+VAT. After a 2 week wait I finally got a response saying that as my lease states "a reasonable registration fee is to be paid" and as the tribunal case was not in relation to the development that my flat is in they are sticking to the originally requested, £120+VAT. Has anyone else had any success challenging this? Any suggestions as to what to do next, I really have no intention of taking them to tribunal over this but should I threaten this anyway or will they see straight through me? Any advise would be really appreciated as I am new to all of this! Many thanks, Becky

Can anyone help me with the following problem.... I own a tenanted but low value upstairs leasehold flat in a converted house of two flats. The downstairs flat has been empty for a number of years and is in disrepair due to a fire. It is boarded up and the council are aware of the situation although they say it's not dangerous. The owner is missing and bought the property without a mortgage. I think he will still be in the local area and probably out of work or in prison. I have contacted the freeholder's solicitors and received the following reply.... Further to our telephone conversation on Friday, I have today spoken with our conveyancing department before writing to Mr D. Our conveyancing department inform me that the freeholder, Mr D wouldn’t be concerned with the condition of the property as his only interest is the ground rent, which only covers the land. I have been informed your best course of action with being concerned about the condition of the flat would be to contact the council's Environmental Health department. Another course of action would be to contact the land registry, where you would be able to get the name & address of the person owning the flat and contact them directly. As the property is in such a state, I cannot see this being the best course of action, I think you would be better in the first instance contacting Environmental Health, but the option is always there. Sorry I cannot be of further help. I contacted the council about this 12 months ago and drew a blank as the property is not in a dangerous condition. There are a lot of empty houses in poor condition in the area and I can't see anything happenning via this route for a very long time, if ever. However I do now have the contact details for the freeholder. The only way I can see any improvement being possible to the downstairs flat is to find the owner and obtain the leasehold, or if not possible then try to obtain it from the freeholder. Otherwise the house will become a ruin. Any comments or suggestions would be much appreciated. Kevin

Has anyone ever dealt with the above company? They are collecting ground rent for my freeholder, but they are very elusive. They do not have a phone number and dont reply to emails.

I desperately need help! I will keep it brief. My partner and I are selling up, releasing the equity to start to build up a property portfolio. Nine months ago, we accepted an offer on our property. The lady who offered on our property owned a leasehold flat in London and had a cash buyer, so, ideally everything should have ran smoothly! She is now on her third cash buyer! The problem, her freeholder. He will not sign off the property plans which had to be re-drawn as they were lost (however the new plans match the land registry plans)?! He has continually objected plans, disputed plans, and will not sign off any paperwork, he will only speak through his solicitor and refuses to answer the phone! He holds the key to the whole of the chain and he knows it. The paper work is going back and forth to solicitors, he creates a problem, the solicitors proves he is in the wrong and then he will create further issues. What do I do? How long do I wait? Each week I am told that we will exchange and this has now go on for 6 months.