Bruce's journal (original) (raw)

A little preamble: When I purchased my flat in London, I bought it Leasehold. This is an antiquated arrangement by which I own a 125-year lease on the interior of the property and half the thickness of the exterior walls but my landlord owns the outside of the building and the rights to the land on which it stands. The practical upshot of this is that, each year, I have to pay an extra month's mortgage payment to my landlord for buildings insurance, ground rent and various other exploitative fees (eg, anti-terrorism insurance - seriously).

Leaseholds are incredibly common in London but the times they are a-changing. I've just had notice through from my landlord offering to sell the freehold (their ownership) on the building to the three tenants; myself, my upstairs neighbour and the shop beneath me. This is great news - until you see the price tag.

Bearing in mind that I paid £205,000 for my 125-year lease on one floor of this four-storey building, the price tag for the freehold, £450,000, seems a tad excessive. Effectively, I'd be paying at least half of my flat's value again.

Worse, I can be forced into this by the other tenants if they both agree to purchase.

Time, I feel, to start reading up on the rules and regulations this is all subject to.

Addendum: Well, I'm baffled already. As far as I can tell, this offer isn't being made to the shop's tenants - effectively, if we agreed, myself and the folks upstairs would become the shop's landlords. Time to get a solicitor to look at it.