Good leasehold title

[jitsy]

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

[BernieWales]

There is nothing wrong with buying a property with good leasehold title. Thus the mortgage broker will not be concerned.

However, the words which concern me are "carry out renovation works" because 99.9% of leases state that the leaseholder must not alter or add to the demised premises. You therefore need to RTBL ... Read The Bl**dy Lease ... and check the wording very carefully. It may be possible to obtain permission from the freeholder to carry out the works ... if the clause says "without first getting written permission" or something similar. But if the clause is not 'permissive' the freeholder may not be in a position to grant permission.

If the freeholder is absent, then Google "absentee freeholder" and see what advice I've provided on that subject.