Did I purchase a leasehold flat with one bed or two beds?
12:01 AM, 30th January 2025, 1 year ago
15
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In August 2001, I bought a flat advertised as a 2 bedroom flat, so now 24 years later the new Freeholder who acquired the Freehold title in 2003 claims that the conversion was illegal and his consent was not taken.
I explained to him that I bought the flat in cash without needing a mortgage and engaged a solicitor whose job would have been doing all the due diligence work, I was not pointed at any time that the flat had been internally converted to 2 bedrooms. Now the property was inspected by the current freeholder and he noticed the internal changes to turn a one bed into two bed accommodation.
Prior to the purchase, I could not have seen the lease document until after the lease was granted to me upon transfer of funds. If I had known the conversion was unlawful, I do not remember picking out this when the lease was in may hands –otherwise I could have taken some action against the seller. If I had known before the money was parted I would have backed out.
Now the Freeholder is weighing up his options about what action he will take, even though the conversion is to both our advantage as he can extend the lease based on 2 bedrooms rather than as a 1 bedroom flat. I checked the local authority portal for any plans the previous leaseholder may have submitted but none were found for the 2 bedrooms.
I now find myself in this tricky situation. My question is: Can the Freeholder, who acquired the interest in the property in 2003, sue me, given that I purchased it in good faith in 2001? Can he force me to revert it to a one-bedroom flat? Or is it more likely that he will grant me retroactive permission and charge me a fee—though I have no idea how much that might be?
My current lease left on this property is 48 years and I am not planning to extend it unless the extension is too costly.
Thanks,
Mike
Tags:
buy-to-let legal issues, freeholder consent, freeholder vs leaseholder, lease extension costs, leasehold conversion issue, leasehold property rights, property dispute resolution, property due diligence, property legal dispute, UK leasehold law, unlawful property conversion
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Member Since January 2025 - Comments: 8
3:59 PM, 30th January 2025, About 1 year ago
Leasehold Advisory Service http://www.lease-advice.org
Member Since March 2020 - Comments: 184
5:39 PM, 30th January 2025, About 1 year ago
I’ve bought 8 flats in the last 10 years. In every case the solicitor would have sight of the lease (and show me) in the first stages of the purchase. I think your solicitor wasn’t doing due diligence in not accessing this information. How would you know the terms, ground rent, service charges etc without sight of this?
Member Since October 2020 - Comments: 1137
9:08 PM, 30th January 2025, About 1 year ago
As above, speak to the leasehold advisory service. I think the freeholder may be out of time to force you to change this or pay any penalty.
Member Since October 2022 - Comments: 403
9:25 PM, 30th January 2025, About 1 year ago
With regards to the solicitor withholding the lease suggests negligence.
It is the lease setting out the conditions which allows the purchaser to live in the flat. It is the lease which is purchased for a premium and the asset on which the mortgage secured.
The purchaser as lessee does not own the flat just the lease and provided the lessee complies with the conditions or covenants in the lease a legally binding contract they can continue to live there.
So the solicitor allowed their client to buy and agree to a contract without the client knowing what they were signing.
Member Since January 2016 - Comments: 25
11:24 AM, 1st February 2025, About 1 year ago
You state that your purchased the leasehold in 2001 and the current freeholder purchased the freehold in 2003. Were you and the other leaseholders given ‘first refusal’ of the freehold being sold by service of a formal notice?
You don’t say how many other flats are in the building and whether it is all residential. The answers to this may affect the comments below:
Don’t be too hasty to agree any deal. Basic legislation is already in place to make is less expensive to obtain a lease extension. Because of litigation and government delays this is unlikely to be in force until next year (2026) but if the present freeholder commences any action against you that is also likely to take a long while. If, as you suspect, the current freeholder is proposing to sell then 1. He will have to give all leaseholders notice and what amounts to first refusal; and, 2. He will want to agree something quickly and easily with you to avoid delaying his sale.