Trying to buy a property where the title deeds need to be split?

Trying to buy a property where the title deeds need to be split?

11:13 AM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago 14

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We are looking at buying a property with a flat that is completely separate with a view to living in the main house ourselves and letting out the flat. split

However at the moment the property only has one title, but is on the land registry as two flats. The seller has agreed to split the title deed if we pay half of the cost.

Now our solicitor is saying the flat will need a lease created too? Has anyone else bought a property with similar issues and how did you solve them?

Many thanks

Jane


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Comments

Neil Patterson

11:19 AM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

As one of the properties you are buying is going to be your main residence I have not run across this before personally, but it would make sense to me to have a separate lease on the flat as well.

Are you purchasing with a mortgage as it will also depend on what the lender is happy with?

Darren Peters

15:00 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Slightly tangential but if the property is legally one property, not 2 flats then your 'tenants' would be lodgers not tenants and the first (from Apr 2016) £7500 of rent would be tax free. Worth considering.

New Landlord

15:52 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Hi thank you for your comments.

Yes we will be purchasing with a mortgage. We have been told the title has to be split for mortgage purchases?
Being first timers at this we know nothing about leases. Is it easy to manage a lease? One of the questions the solicitor asked was how were we planning to manage a lease?

Puzzler

20:13 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

You need a specialist solicitor and it sounds as though yours isn't. It's not difficult, a lease is drawn up and the title separated with the main title to include the house and freehold to the flat. I have exactly that situation. Whereabouts are you?

If you do go down this route there is a lot of legal tape to consider

If you are buying both though why do you need a lease? Maybe you just need to find the right lender, it's slightly non-standard but a good broker should help you find one

New Landlord

20:29 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

I don't know why we need a lease either. We have been told by two financial advisors that to get a mortgage on the property we would have to ask the vendor to agree to split the title. Our offer was accepted by the vendor with the estate agent informing us that this could be arranged. The latest correspondence from our solicitor isn't encouraging as none if this has been relayed to the vendors solicitor.
You said that you have the same situation. Are you able to share how you are getting around these obstacles and the time scales involved?

Puzzler

20:31 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

In my case a lease was created for the flat but it was already owned.

You didn't say whereabouts you are (approximately)

New Landlord

20:34 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Thank you for your quick response.
We are in the South of England. Have you had experience of title deeds needing to be split during the buying of a property?

Puzzler

20:38 PM, 18th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Me too. It's not exactly the same but I will see what I can find out.

If you wish you can email me on rannd@hotmail.co.uk as this could be quite involved

Gary BTLowner

14:05 PM, 20th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Hello Jane. For letting purposes I`m always looking for houses as two flats, and this sounds like one near me (Bournemouth?) I came across but it was way too expensive for 2 BTL flats. If it`s the one I`m thinking of, even for a home and annexe I thought it was over the top (even with £20K off) with all the problems it has. Splitting a title is straightforward but something you only need do if you`re considering selling the flat on it`s own, but in this case you only need a residential lender who`d accept it`s non-standard layout. Are you aware of all the pitfalls with it? They`re not insurmountable but it would be very expensive. I`d gladly go into them if it might help you.

New Landlord

16:31 PM, 20th February 2016, About 8 years ago

Hello Gary
It is the lender issue that is causing the problem. Have you had any experience of lenders who are sympathetic to this issue? Ideally we would prefer to buy the property on one repayment mortgage as we also want to let the flat to a family member.
Thank you for taking an interest.

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