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Hi All, Has anyone purchased a property with a 'good lease title'? The property we are in the process of purchasing is in the NE and has has a 'good lease title'. Our solicitor seems quiet wary of this and has said this may cause issues for when we are refinancing or selling the property. The vendors solicitors have refused to upgrade the title to an 'absolute lease title' before purchase, we have been advised to get a legal indemnity insurance policy in the unlikely event there is a claim on our lease. Our broker on the other hand has said it shouldn't be an issue refinancing, so we are a bit perplexed. For info, this will be a cash purchase, carry out renovation works to convert to a 6 bed HMO and then refinance. The lease itself has about 800 years left on it. Thanks

Hi All, I own the leasehold on a flat owned by the council. The council are planning to carry out major works to the building in the near future, of which each privately owned flat (some are still rented as council homes) will have to pay their share of the total cost. Has anyone had any experience of this? My concern is the lack of control I have over what works are done and the most importantly the bill I will have to pay at the end of it. I've heard horror stories of these costs often racking up to tens of thousands and in one case last year £146k. My second question is, if I was to remortgage to pay for these costs, what LTV it is possible to remortgage to? I currently own 25% but if for example, it was possible to remortgage to 5% (unlikely I'm guessing), would that even be advisable? Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated! Thanks

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