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Hi,
I'm not sure whether this is the right section or not.
9 years ago I bought a lease hold property as a cash buyer.
I paid £101,000 for it. It had 66 years left on the 99 year lease.
Unfortunately the solicitor who handled the conveyancing did not advice me about the consequences of not considering the high cost and marriage costs of renewing a lease that has less that 80 years. The current ground rent is £10 a year for the flat and £40 a month for the garage ground rent which is at the rear of the property in a separate block.
It has 57 years remaining and I recently paid a £192 fee to the Landlord Agent to obtain a cost of a lease renewal.
I got a figure back from the Agent of £12,500 for a new 125 year lease. In addition there would be Landlord legal costs of £950+VAT plus of course my legal fees.
The yearly lease would increase to £175 a year and then double every 15 years or increase with the Retail Price Index, whichever the greater.
The garage rent would remain unchanged.
I am 42, single and have no children.
Is it in my financial interests to pay the money and renew the lease or should I just continue to rent it out as I have done for the last 8 years and let the landlord have it back when the lease expired when I am 89?
I don't think I would have any come back on the solicitor who didn't advise me property and I'm sure I must have signed to say that I understood the whole situation.
I feel annoyed that I wasn't given good advice because had I known this, I would never of bought this property and would have gone for a freehold house instead.
Is renewing this lease asap a no brainer?
I've heard that any conveyancer worth their salt would advise their clients not to but this property with the new lease, as the ground rent doubling every 15 years or going up with the RPI would be a very bad purchase/investment.
Any sound advice from someone who understands about lease renewals etc would be most welcome.
Cheers, Ian
I'm not sure whether this is the right section or not.
9 years ago I bought a lease hold property as a cash buyer.
I paid £101,000 for it. It had 66 years left on the 99 year lease.
Unfortunately the solicitor who handled the conveyancing did not advice me about the consequences of not considering the high cost and marriage costs of renewing a lease that has less that 80 years. The current ground rent is £10 a year for the flat and £40 a month for the garage ground rent which is at the rear of the property in a separate block.
It has 57 years remaining and I recently paid a £192 fee to the Landlord Agent to obtain a cost of a lease renewal.
I got a figure back from the Agent of £12,500 for a new 125 year lease. In addition there would be Landlord legal costs of £950+VAT plus of course my legal fees.
The yearly lease would increase to £175 a year and then double every 15 years or increase with the Retail Price Index, whichever the greater.
The garage rent would remain unchanged.
I am 42, single and have no children.
Is it in my financial interests to pay the money and renew the lease or should I just continue to rent it out as I have done for the last 8 years and let the landlord have it back when the lease expired when I am 89?
I don't think I would have any come back on the solicitor who didn't advise me property and I'm sure I must have signed to say that I understood the whole situation.
I feel annoyed that I wasn't given good advice because had I known this, I would never of bought this property and would have gone for a freehold house instead.
Is renewing this lease asap a no brainer?
I've heard that any conveyancer worth their salt would advise their clients not to but this property with the new lease, as the ground rent doubling every 15 years or going up with the RPI would be a very bad purchase/investment.
Any sound advice from someone who understands about lease renewals etc would be most welcome.
Cheers, Ian
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