We are currently seeing in the media an alarming number of cases where property owners are buying a house from a developer and realising that it has a lease attached to it and is not freehold. This means that you will need to pay an annual ground rent. These annual ground rents continue to increase over time. They can be off-putting to future purchasers.
The only value in a leasehold residential property is usually for the developer that has orchestrated the lease. Obviously when you have long established flats and they are leasehold, the ground rent is usually peppercorn. So in this particular blog we are talking about residential property.
We are asked so many times what the options are that we suggest the developer to take away the leasehold from the onset that you purchase it from them and you can either buy the lease from them at a reasonable cost, or ask them to dissolve the lease and effectively make the property freehold. If they will not do this our advice to you is do not buy leasehold residential dwellings. Leasehold residential flats are slightly more acceptable.
Leasehold residential property – vote with your feet – walk away or see if you can buy the lease.
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