How can I extend my lease if the other freeholder won’t communicate?

How can I extend my lease if the other freeholder won’t communicate?

9:23 AM, 30th August 2024, About a month ago 4

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Hello everyone, I am looking for advice/help to resolve this.

I purchased a leasehold flat with 50% freehold interest in 2002. It is a detached property with three flats. The ground floor is owned by me and the first floor is owned by a lady who also has the other 50% of the freehold.

I was a first time buyer and didn’t give too much attention to the lease. During peak COVID (2021), my mortgage was coming for renewal and I approached the mortgage adviser, who informed me that I only have 57 years of lease left. The other freeholder has 999 years lease. The flat doesn’t have service charges or ground rent. The only ground rent is paid by 2nd floor leaseholder which is £100 per year.

I have been trying to get my lease extended, but the first floor lady is NOT communicative and is completely ignoring all my requests.

What can I do? I need help as I am struggling to secure a re-mortgage deal with banks due to the 54 year remaining lease.

Thanks,

Rajesh


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Tim Peters

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10:35 AM, 30th August 2024, About a month ago

That's an odd one and I think you first need to understand the background

Did the upstairs owner once own the whole building and then separate it into flats and only give a 99? Year lease on the other flat

Or were both flats 99 year and the upstairs owner has extended their lease

It seems odd that they pay ground rent and you don't

I would be getting hols of
The title to the freehold
A copy of your lease
A copy of the upstairs lease
The title to the upstairs property (to check who owns it)

They can all be obtained from the Land registry for about £10 each (unless you have an account)

Read them carefully and you might have a better way of how to proceed. If nothing else, the lease will talk about Service of Notices, and as long as you follow the process outlined, your Notice will be deemed to have been served even if the other freeholder ignores it

JB

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10:49 AM, 30th August 2024, About a month ago

I would consult a solicitor with a view to serving a section 42 notice. This is a formal request from a leaseholder to the freeholder or landlord (or both) and any other appropriate party to extend their lease on a property. This notice must be responded to within a certain time frame.

Darren Peters

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17:31 PM, 31st August 2024, About a month ago

Reply to the comment left by JB at 30/08/2024 - 10:49
Exactly what JB said. I would also add that it's in the other part-Freeholder's interest to be slow to respond because the longer it takes, the more you will have to pay.

I would guess that if you are a 50% owner of the Freehold whatever the Lease extension costs you will effectively only pay half of it.

Crossed_Swords

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21:49 PM, 1st September 2024, About a month ago

See a specialist solicitor and/or wait for the Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024 to come into force - although this could be a while

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