To buy Freehold?

[Curlynob]

My Victorian Terrace House is technically a Leasehold property. No payments on the 999 year lease (dating back to 1890) have been requested or made in living memory. In a town of similar properties built for railway workers, it's not an uncommon situation. In about 1980 the previous owner was offered the Freehold for about �200, but they declined. For my own peace of mind, i'd quite like to get hold of the Freehold, but where do i start? Is it likely to be more trouble than it's worth?

[Barmaid]

This a specialist area under the Leasehold Reform Act 1967 where holders of long leases can purchase the freehold which has to be valued through the Leasehold Valuations Tribunal.

A great way to do it is to get a group of you together and instruct solicitors jointly - although you will all have to bring separate claims, because you are (potentially) dealing with the same landlord, and can instruct the same solicitors and same counsel, thus keeping costs to a minimum. A specialist will deal with this no problem - I recently dealt with 26 cases of leases from 1583-1587 (which was a headache). Do you know who the current landlord is? If so, it's a whole lot easier.

[Curlynob]

Hi, thanks for your help. I do have an old address. I don't know whether it's current but it's probably as good a place as any to start.

[Barmaid]

The first key is finding the landlord - if you know who ll is and he can be traced it is a whole lot easier. Either way, I think specialist help is a good idea.