How to purchase freehold from Chancery St James

[rabb5it5]

I own a semi detached house in Newcastle upon Tyne. I am a leaseholder & pay £35 per annum to Freehold Properties Limited c/o Chancery St James. The lease term was 99 years from 1 Oct 1972.

I wish to purchase the freehold & would be grateful for any advice regarding this.

I have read the following page from 2007 on the Landlordzone forum:
http://www.landlordzone.co.uk/forums...hp/t-4921.html

The second post from the bottom by tenant29 suggests 10 x annual rent. In my case 10 x 35=£350. The LVT 100 judgement mentioned (pdf file) is similar to my case in that it is also for a rent of £35 annum from Freehold Properties Limited c/o Chancery St James. It is 10 years old now, dated 2002.

Is it Chancery St James I would make the offer to, and could I make an offer of £350 plus legal costs say £200 to purchase the freehold (with a clean title, with no new covenants) enclosing a copy of the LVT 100 judgement to justify the offer price.

Or should I be offering £700 as the bottom post on the mentioned forum page states “20YP [=twenty years' purchase, meaning twenty times ground rent as purchase price] is good in most case. Anything less is very favourable to T. “

So any advice on this matter would be most appreciated.

[Gordon999]

The cost of freehold at 10 times annual rent quoted back in 2007 applied to leasehold houses on 999 year leases - Since the financial crisis in 2008 and low bank interest rate , recent LVT judgements on cost of buying the freehold has risen from the 10 times to now 14 times. Use Google search for past "LVT judgements" on "leasehold houses"


If your lease is only 99 years from 1972 , then you only have 59 years remaining on your lease and you most definitely have to extend your lease OR buy the freehold . The cost will be much higher -see sample in free guide from LEASE. You can download a free guide on extending the lease on your house or buying the freehold title of leasehold houses - from www.lease-advice.org

[rabb5it5]

Thank you for your advice Gordon.

I have printed a guide from lease-advive.org.

When I search for past "LVT judgements" on "leasehold houses" most results are from landlordzone recommending www.rpts.gov.uk. This site then appears as justice.gov.uk mentioning removal in autumn 2011. I don't seem able to find the list of past judgements on leasehold houses. Could you point me in the right direction please. I have got to http://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk but whenever I make a search under “Decisions” I don't get any results.