• How Can The Fellow Freeholders Of My Late Father's Building Hold Up A Sale Of His Flat?

    By Guest on 16th Feb 2016

    We are experiencing a lot of difficulty/ obstruction from one of the freeholders of the house my late father lived in with regards to selling his flat. There are 4 of us with share of freehold, my sister is executor for my father's estate. Because of a falling out, we have learned that one of the other freeholders is going be obstructive to us selling. We have an offer and solicitors and have done our paperwork and are up to speed. What do we have to have from them in order to proceed with the sale? How long can they make us wait? They are very domineering with the other freeholders and so really they hold all the power despite the others wanting to be helpful.

  • 5 Answers

    By Guest on 16/02/2016

    It depends what you mean by "share of freehold" and on what arrangements exist for the collection of service charges and the carrying out of maintenance and insurance. If the freehold is own in the personal names of the 4 freeholders then each wil need to sign the transfer deed. It may be possible to obtain an injunction forcing them to sign but this may be a lenghty and expensive process. If the freehold is owned by a company that is jointly owned by the 4 freeholders then it depends on whether there is restriction on the title and if so, who is able to give a certificate of compliance.

    The other issue is the buyer will want information about service charges and buildings insurance if there are any formal arrangements in place and it may be that the nuisance neighbours have that information

  • By Guest on 16/02/2016

    Thanks for this - the freehold is owned by a company / jointly owned by the 4 freeholders. The current Secretary is is friendly but I'm not sure if she would stand up to the problem neighbours though 2 out of 3 of the on 'our side'.
    We have the information about the service charges and insurance already as my parents had a lot of the relevant paperwork from being secretaries of company previously.

  • By Guest on 16/02/2016

    Apologies - I meant to say that 2 out of 3 of the other freeholders are on our side.

  • By Guest on 16/02/2016

    Ok, then the company secretary should be able to provide the information you need (it's unlikely the buyer will accept it from you as you are not independent) and should be able to give consent in respect of any restriction that might be on the title. On the face of it there ks nothing the problem freeholder can do and it's worth reminding them that one day they will want to sell and will need everyone else's help

  • By Guest on 16/02/2016

    Thank you very much thats great to know. I just hope the problem neighbours will come round though history unfortunately shows them to be very difficult.

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