Owning your own home

Is there a reason they don't want to get the freeholder involved? Is that normal in this sort of situation?

The freeholder is us, the owners of the flats- but it’s managed by a colossal penis who I hate dealing with, so I can understand that part.

I am also happy to sell @Dammit these 2 garages. I’ll even do a better price, but only via Western Union.

The Freeholder would probably have to be involved if any solicitor is. And the freeholder will need a solicitor and charge the costs back to the seller.

Something is up. If you say 'fine I'll go halves on all conveyancing fees' and the seller is still recalcitrant it means they are either a) bonkers or b) shifty

Buyer beware

Yeah given his response, I would 100% be using a Solicitor now.

This. Very very sketchy.

Well, I paid the fee and got the current land registry docs, and he is on record as owning one and his sister the other. Question is- can they sell them?

Yes. The registered proprietor owns the registered property and can transfer it, subject to any restrictions in the lease on assignment.

I’m seriously considering rebuilding my garage from scratch.

It’s detached and about 6 by 6 meters roughly.

Our neighbours garage is right beside ours, theirs is attached to the side of their house.

The distance between our garage walls is about half a meter. I think that current regulations would say the distance should be at least 1 meter?

The small gap between the garages is completely full of rubble, it looks like builders have discarded bricks and other rubbish in there at some point in the past. It’s even been bricked up at one end to keep all the rubble in. I can’t understand why anyone would have done this but it’s there.
The rendering on my wall has come off completely. There is water ingress coming through the wall due to the rubble directing all rain water straight onto the wall.

I’ve recently been told by another neighbour that the garage wasn’t always there and was built at least 20 years ago. Apparently it was built without planning permission and it isn’t on the plans for the house.
Before the garage was built there was a path in its place that gave access to the rear gardens of the small row of terraced houses. This was to allow each property to move their bins out to the front to collect.

All the rubble between them is literally stuck there, there just no way to remove it.

If I rebuild my garage I think I’d have to build it 1 meter away from the neighbours garage to stay within regulations but this would obviously make my garage smaller which I don’t want.

So in order to rebuild my garage to the same size, the neighbours garage would have to come down…

My neighbours are nice enough, a couple in their sixties, recently retired. I get on well with them.
I’ve mentioned the rubble before and they claim they have no idea how or why it got there.

Where do I stand with this?
If and when they come to sell the house, wouldn’t they have to remove the garage if it doesn’t have planning permission?
If they tried to apply retroactively I’d sure as fuck object to it.

I’m obviously going to have to bring it up to them at some point but without sounding too matter of fact.
But at the same time I can’t help feel they are in the wrong and it was pretty arrogant to build without planning permission.

I’m in Scotland if that matters

Edit-I’ll get some photos of what this rubble filled gap looks like

Yes. The registered proprietor owns the registered property and can transfer it, subject to any restrictions in the lease on assignment.

Even without the freehold (company) being involved? The idea of buying a leasehold property without the freeholder being aware scares the bejesus out of me!

Yes. The registered proprietor owns the registered property and can transfer it, subject to any restrictions in the lease on assignment.

Every garage used to belong a flat, so for example garage number 2 is on a lease that is detailed within the lease for flat 37. The garage specific lease is registered at LR, and I've got a copy, it states that you need a deed from the landlord, which the seller avers is his sister (who is the registered proprietor) but a friend who knows something about this said that I should seek legal advice as to whether the landlord was indeed the sister, or the current owner of the flat.

My ignorance in this area is amazing, and the very real possibility is that I read something that says in legalese "any sale has to get the permission of the owner of flat 37" as saying "fill your boots, no worries pal".

sell both garages to user dammit imo. just make sure user brommers doesn't get involved

Demolish both garages, build a small house and rent it to dammit when he moves to Scotland.

How do I tell my neighbour this? :(

Thats what it feels like.

Even without the freehold (company) being involved? The idea of buying a leasehold property without the freeholder being aware scares the bejesus out of me!

At common law a lease is a piece of property like any other and can be freely assigned. Most leases will contain some sort of restriction on transfer - technically "a covenant against alienation" - but not all do. If there's no covenant against alienation, or the covenant against alienation doesn't require the landlord's consent or similar, then there's no reason why the freeholder necessarily has to be involved.

Where there is a covenant against alienation, and there are conditions on the right to assign - freeholder's consent, execution of a Deed of Covenant etc. - or even if it prohibits assignment completely, the registered proprietor can still assign the lease and the assignment will be effective. However, if the assignment is made in breach of the terms of the lease then this will normally give the freeholder the right to forfeit the lease, and the law still views a breach of a covenant against assignment as a serious matter. It's one of the few breaches of a lease which are still regarded as irremediable.

it states that you need a deed from the landlord, which the seller avers is his sister (who is the registered proprietor)

He would almost certainly be wrong on that. The landlord is (assuming there are no intermediate or mesne leases) the freeholder, which from the sounds of things is the tenant-owned freehold company. Feel free to send over a copy of the lease and I'll tell you what hoops you need to jump through before the garages can be transferred.

That's very kind of you.

At common law a lease is a piece of property like any other and can be freely assigned. Most leases will contain some sort of restriction on transfer - technically "a covenant against alienation" - but not all do. If there's no covenant against alienation, or the covenant against alienation doesn't require the landlord's consent or similar, then there's no reason why the freeholder necessarily has to be involved.

I think I get it - so a freeholder wouldn't need to be involved in the sale itself (assuming the terms of the lease allowed such a sale), just potentially informed once the lease has changed hands?

The solicitor I had started talking to has just said she can't act for me due to a conflict of interest.

Is she the sister?

Well, the name isn't the same but I admit to not knowing what a solicitor would term a conflict of interest for a couple of garages.

Has she just made an offer on a couple of garages?

Leases change hands in our block on a regular basis without any involvement from the freeholders, one of whom has gone missing anyway

she can't act for me due to a conflict of interest.

That seems a bit odd...
I think the universe might be trying to tell you it's not meant to be.
Do you own or rent the one you're using right now?

Well thats fuckin weird maybe something is telling you to avoid these garages.

That seems a bit odd...

Not really. Probably just means they've acted for the vendor or the freeholder in the past. I've had to return plenty of instructions due to a conflict of interests.