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I have been trying to obtain the freehold of my house for years. It was built in 1998 with a 99 year lease (I think the term left could have been a little less as the lease was granted before it was built.)
In January 2015 I contacted the then new agents – (home ground) of my freeholder by telephone regarding the purchase of the freehold. I received a letter by post wanting £109 or thereabouts to tell me how much it would be!
Mid 2016, my accountant recommended a solicitor to obtain the freehold, this solicitor recommended paying the fee (to the agent) so as “not to upset them,” I reluctantly agreed, after a long time and many apologies/excuses from this solicitor they came back with a figure of £10200.00 wow
There is an online calculator for this http://www.freeholdcalculator.com/freehold_choose.php it gives quite a detailed assessment of the approximate price you should be paying; in my case around £6000.00. This solicitor eventually advised, “Seek advice from a professional as to what they consider the correct figure to be and invite them to negotiate”
In the end I told him to forget it, I was charged £177.60 for what I consider virtually nothing on his behalf, I also spent another £109 or so to get them to give a figure.
In early 2018 a good friend’s granddaughter moved in near me, I was told they had paid the people selling the house to buy the freehold on her behalf which cost £3000.00 I would imagine plus expenses (smaller house).
I was told her solicitor could handle the purchase of the freehold on my behalf, long story short he has done more or less the same as the first except he served a formal notice to buy on the freehold, we have paid the 3 years ground rent as required under that notice.
This solicitor is now saying almost a year later the freeholders solicitors are ignoring his letters/phone calls. (I have had to prompt him on every occasion) and to get a chartered surveyor to do a valuation for me at a cost of £750 to present to them!
What if they continue to ignore everything? Surely, there must be something in law to make them respond and give a price and start negotiations, they did acknowledge receipt of the notice. I have contact details for the freeholder’s solicitor, What a mess, any advice would be most helpful.
In January 2015 I contacted the then new agents – (home ground) of my freeholder by telephone regarding the purchase of the freehold. I received a letter by post wanting £109 or thereabouts to tell me how much it would be!
Mid 2016, my accountant recommended a solicitor to obtain the freehold, this solicitor recommended paying the fee (to the agent) so as “not to upset them,” I reluctantly agreed, after a long time and many apologies/excuses from this solicitor they came back with a figure of £10200.00 wow
There is an online calculator for this http://www.freeholdcalculator.com/freehold_choose.php it gives quite a detailed assessment of the approximate price you should be paying; in my case around £6000.00. This solicitor eventually advised, “Seek advice from a professional as to what they consider the correct figure to be and invite them to negotiate”
In the end I told him to forget it, I was charged £177.60 for what I consider virtually nothing on his behalf, I also spent another £109 or so to get them to give a figure.
In early 2018 a good friend’s granddaughter moved in near me, I was told they had paid the people selling the house to buy the freehold on her behalf which cost £3000.00 I would imagine plus expenses (smaller house).
I was told her solicitor could handle the purchase of the freehold on my behalf, long story short he has done more or less the same as the first except he served a formal notice to buy on the freehold, we have paid the 3 years ground rent as required under that notice.
This solicitor is now saying almost a year later the freeholders solicitors are ignoring his letters/phone calls. (I have had to prompt him on every occasion) and to get a chartered surveyor to do a valuation for me at a cost of £750 to present to them!
What if they continue to ignore everything? Surely, there must be something in law to make them respond and give a price and start negotiations, they did acknowledge receipt of the notice. I have contact details for the freeholder’s solicitor, What a mess, any advice would be most helpful.
