Separating a garage from a leasehold flat
Speedgazebo
garages from the flats so I can sell the flats and keep title to the
garages.
Has anyone else done this?
--
Nicholasaird
Owain
> I own several flats that all have garages. I want to separate the
> garages from the flats so I can sell the flats and keep title to the
> garages.
You *might* require planning permission to do this, and it might be
refused if it leaves the flats without off-street parking.
Owain
Yellow
@c29g2000yqd.googlegroups.com>, nick...@gmail.com says...
You will need to get the freeholder to agree.
Ste
Yes, according to a poster a few weeks ago.
The main obstacle to this is the terms of the leases you already hold.
If you are not prevented from subleasing the garages (i.e. to
yourself), then your aims are easy. On the other hand, if you actually
want a complete division of the leases (or if the existing terms
prevent any subleasing), then you'll need to arrange it with the
freeholder.
peterwn
Yes, there was a long thread here on this starting 24 Nov 2009, OP
being Stav.
The options would be:
1. Subdivide the garages from the flats so they each have fee simple
or long leasehold registrations. Planning consent would no doubt be
necessary together with concent from the freeholder if any.
2. Cross lease the flats and garages so they are they are tenants in
common of the underlying freehold or or long leasehold. Could
require consents as in 1 above. May be frowned upon in law, by
solicitors or by lenders.
3. Sublease the garage from the flat and sell the flat subject to the
sublease. This would be the most promising method, but the see the
above thread. I will discuss this further.
If flat ownership is fee simple, that is one problem out of the way.
If flat ownership is 99 or 999 year or so lease or is a multi occupier
premises requiring management and maintenance of communal areas, then
freeholder consent may be necessary. If required consent is not
obtained the flat 'owner' (rather lessee) is in default and could have
lease cancelled (ouch!).
If the garage sublease is very long, then planning consent may be
necessary depending on the state of planning laws (it does make sense
for planning laws to 'catch' leases of more than about 20 years).
If the flat is leased from the freeholder then that lease needs to be
stapled to the sublease because head lease conditions are binding on a
sublessee.
From the garage 'owner's' point of view, ideally he should not need to
pay any rent, rates or maintenance. Any right of access for
inspection or maintence by the flat owner should be waived (although
any freeholder right of access for inspection cannot be waived). So
in effect any purchaser of the flat would want to purchase at a
discount knowing that he has to subsidise rates and maintenance of
garage. Lenders and buyers' solicitors may take a jundiced view of
such an arrangement. If rent is not payable, there may not be
'sufficient' consideration so the lease could be void.
Therefore in practice the flat owner should receive rent (if even a
peppercorn) and a share of rates / maintenance contributions. The
flat owner should also reserve the right of access for reasonable
inspections and maintenance.
The garage owner must ensure that he meets such continuing obligations
or risk eviction, thus losing the value of the lease. This was the
essence of the discussion in the November 2009 thread.
One last thing - if the garages are to be used for storage for
commercial purposes (eg storing goods for sale), this is probably in
breach of planning rules.
Nicholasaird
> On Jan 26, 7:50 am, Speedgazebo <nicka...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > I own several flats that all have garages. I want to separate the
> > garages from the flats so I can sell the flats and keep title to the
> > garages.
> > Has anyone else done this?
>
> Yes, there was a long thread here on this starting 24 Nov 2009, OP
> being Stav.
>
>
> The options would be:
>
> 1. Subdivide the garages from the flats so they each have fee simple
> or long leasehold registrations. Planning consent would no doubt be
> necessary together with concent from the freeholder if any.
>
> 2. Cross lease the flats and garages so they are they are tenants in
> common of the underlying freehold or or long leasehold. Could
> require consents as in 1 above. May be frowned upon in law, by
> solicitors or by lenders.
>
> 3. Sublease the garage from the flat and sell the flat subject to the
> sublease. This would be the most promising method, but the see the
> above thread. I will discuss this further.
Thank you for that information, it's very comprehensive. It looks like
option 3 is the most promising, I am fortunate in that I own all the
flats outright, and I also have a majority holding in the management
company who own the freeholds so neither of those issues will be a
problem. I have spoken to my solicitor and have given him a sample
lease and deeds to look over to decide how best to procede, I will
post back with the outcome as it seems to be a question that may be of
further interest to others.
--
Nicholasaird