Freeholder selling freehold at auction

[theshoefairy]

Hi all,

I am not sure if this is the right place to post, please delete or move if it isn't.

I received a letter from Pantera Property last week stating that the freeholder is selling the freehold at auction is December and if I m interested to contact them. I had to chase them for a price, and they came back two days ago saying that it is going to an auction with a guide price of £50k plus. As you can imagine I nearly collapsed.

My mother paid off the mortgage some years ago, she passed away in 2013 and I inherited the house.

I don't know where to go from here. I have an appointment with Lease Advisory Service on Sunday. I cannot afford 50k. I am a single parent, working part time and I am terrified I am going to lose the house.

I don't believe they have served me with a notice of first refusal, and I do not believe that they have given me enough time as I have read they should give 4 to 6 months notice.

Any advice at all would be greatly appreciated as I am just about to have a nervous breakdown.

[Gordon999]

You are the leaseholder of a leasehold house and you are interested to buy the freehold title. The market value of the freehold title will depend on the ground rent income and the number of years remaining on the lease. You can download a free guide ( at www.lease-advice.org ) to buying the freehold for a house and study the sample calculations.

The Government has indicated it intends to stop future sale of new houses under leasehold title. The CMA has announced on 4 Sept 2020 that it will be asking 4 developers to explain why the ground rents are required in the leases of new houses. You should study the CMA announcement because it may impact on the price for the freehold.

What annual ground rent are you paying now and how many years left on your lease ?

[flyingfreehold]

Pantera is a RICS firm so professionally obligated to fairness. Ring their improbably named Hattie Snook MRICS 01423 421825
At risk of stating the obvious just because the owners of it intend to sell the freehold interest, that does not mean your rights under the lease are in any way affected. If they are talking about a price for the freehold reaching into the tens of thousands it probably means your lease is very short. It may be appropriate for you to serve a notice through a solicitor to extend the leasehold interest; which will probably cost a few bob but if as you say the house is owned without mortgage it should be pretty cheap to borrow the money and extend the term. You need a good local solicitor to get you through this.

[Macromia]

If this is the freehold for a house, there is no right to first refusal because that only applies to the freeholds of properties containing two or more flats.

As flyingfreehold has said, if they expect to get that much for the freehold of a leasehold house, it most likely means that the lease term has relatively few years remaining (well under 80) - or the annual ground rent is extremely high.