Leasehold query - lease being sold on

[james2004]

I live in an leasehold apartment in a small development. I have recently been told that the lease for the entire development has been sold incorrectly. I have since been told that the lease has been sold a number of times, ive owned the property since build and no one has told me so.
it turns out that as the original lease was sold incorrectly that we may be able to buy it at the original cost, apparently
My issue is that the lease keeps being sold and I know nothing about it - is this normal?

Thanks

 

[james2004]

BTW the reason i ask is that if the lease was sold incorrectly i want to know how and if I can buy this personally and how to set that up as a business holding the lease for the entire property?

 

[eteb3]

So the ownership is freeholder > headlease-holder* > you (underlease-holder) .

*Ownership of this lease is disputed

Is that right?

 

[james2004]

I have just found out that its been sold four times since I owned the property, i am one of 34 leaseholders.
All single home private residencies

yes as above

 

[WaveJumper]

You are all leaseholders of a freehold building you own a lease but not the freehold. You can (if you all club together) offer to buy the freehold from the developer or owner its possible that you have rights to purchase the building at a substantial discount but you need to seek out proper specialist advice. Suggest you do a google on rights of purchasing a freehold building as a lease holder and speak to your solicitor.

 

[WaveJumper]

Something like this:

Buying the freehold of your building - The Leasehold Advisory Service

A brief summary of the key points

www.lease-advice.org

 

[eteb3]

My issue is that the lease keeps being sold and I know nothing about it - is this normal?

I don't know about normal, as in commonly done, but it's straightforward enough. The 'reversionary interest' in your own lease (ie, the right to have the property back at the end of the term) will have been 'assigned' to another person. Leases will almost always define the 'landlord' as 'the person from time to time entitled to the reversion' or similar; but strictly (afaik) that's not necessary because Law of Property Act 141 & 142 mean that on assignment of the reversion, the obligations and benefits go with it automatically.

The freehold changing hands is pretty common, because the developer has no interest in the long-term rents - they want to free up their capital and go and develop another plot. So they'll sell the reversion to a pension fund or similar. I could imagine the headlease is similar.

I have somewhere got details on what notice has to be provided to the underleaseholder. Afaicr, it goes with ordinary rules of contract: you're not liable to the new owner until they make themselves known to you.

 

[eteb3]

if the lease was sold incorrectly i want to know how and if I can buy this personally

"sold incorrectly" - the devil will be in the detail. If the original grant of the headlease was defective, there's probably nothing there to buy!

Right now you have, at my guess, an equitable leasehold interest in the freehold, but I don't know - you may have an equitable leasehold interest in an equitable headlease.

English land law is about the most complex in the world, I gather, and I fear this is going to cost you a lot of squids if you want to get to the bottom of it.

In any case, I'm interested in @WaveJumper 's post: looks like those are rights you always had. What's changed now the duff lease has made itself known?

 

[eteb3]

Oh one more thing - it's possible (though at my guess unlikely) that in your own lease there is a covenant by the headleaseholder not to assign (sell) the headlease. Maybe they did and breached their covenant to you? Is that the "sold incorrectly" bit?

 

[fisicx]

Or do you really mean they sold the freehold? Selling a freehold is common and has nothing to do with each lease.

Or has the freeholder sold the headlease? Again this is has nothing to do with your lease.

 

[eteb3]

Or has the freeholder sold the headlease?

I'm pretty sure the freeholder can't own the headlease in order to sell it - if the two estates come into the same hands, they merge and the headlease is thereby extinguished.

On the other hand if the freeholder at first held the reversions of the 34 owner-occupiers directly, he/she/it could assign them all to a company and grant that company a headlease. (In terms of coordinating the freeholder's multiple reversionary interests, that might be a handy thing to do.)

 

[WaveJumper]

And what expert informed you that the building had been sold incorrectly?

 

[james2004]

The current owner of the freehold has actually put their hands up and said it was sold incorrectly, but that was the first time it was sold on.... thanks for everything so far i think its more complicated than i thought as i thought it would be mighty!!

 

[james2004]

and the term headlease has come it to it recently, that's new to me so ill have to have a look back at the details i have

 

[rach88]

I suspect that your landlord didn't give the proper Section 5A notice, aka the right of first refusal. There is a legal obligation on landlords to serve the notice to purchase the freehold on leaseholders before they sell on the open market.

Right of First Refusal - The Leasehold Advisory Service

Outline of the right of pre-emption (right of first refusal) given to leaseholders when their landlord is disposing/selling his interest in the property

www.lease-advice.org

 

[Chris Ashdown]

My first thoughts would be to write to the other owners of the 30 off properties and ask them to a meeting to see if there is any interest in buying the freeholder out