Freehold
This page contains information, documents etc related to freehold (and lease extension) issues

11th March 2010: After a complicated and long drawn-out procedure (see below) the purchase of the freehold has finally been completed.

History of the freehold purchase:The leases of the flats in Maybury Court expire on 14 March 2062 at which point the flats were to revert to the freeholder, the Howard De Walden Estate. In January 2004 a group of leaseholders led by Alistair Barr initiated the process of exercising our statutory right to buy the freehold from the Howard De Walden Estate. Forty-four of the sixty-eight flats decided to join this endeavour. Unfortunately the process was very drawn out because it became a major test case.

Position of flats which participated in the purchase of the freehold
Once the purchase of the freehold has been completed each of the forty-three participants will be given a share in the freehold and granted a 999-year lease. The flats which own a share in the freehold no longer have to pay ground rent. The Freehold Company is in the process of granting the new 999-year leases. For further information or to check progress on the granting of the new leases contact Alistair.

Position of flats which did not participate in the purchase of the freehold
The remaining twenty-five flats will not be affected by the change in ownership of the freehold. They will retain their share in the management company which enables them to control the management of the block. In addition, the non-participating flats retain their statutory right to purchase a 90-year lease extension (subject to a two year ownership qualification). The new freeholder is Maybury Court Freehold Company Limited. However, the share of the freehold of the non-participating flats is owned by an Investor, Bir Kathuria. The Freehold Company does not have any financial interest in the non-participating flats and or any involvement in negotiations regarding the purchase of lease extensions.

For more information on the process of buying a 90-year lease extension see the website of the Lease Advisory Service
The Lease Advisory Service provides free advice including free indicative valuations. To get a free valuation you need to provide the following information:

Underlease expires: 14 March 2062
Headlease expires: 24 March 2062
Ground rent: £100 per annum rising to £200 in March 2017, to £400 in March 2032 and to £800 in March 2047
Valuation date: Usually the date on which you serve the notice of claim.
Current lease value: You can use the price of recently sold flats as a guide. These can be looked up on a number of property web sites, though it takes a few months for the sales information to get onto Land Registry and then on this linked site where you should paste into the dialogue box (including commas) the following text: Maybury, Marylebone Street, London
Relativity (short lease value/freehold value): The LVT used a relativity of 81.37% in 2004 decision on Maybury Court. However, the valuation date was October 2004 so the relativity is likely to be significantly lower.
Capitalisation rate: (Rate at which ground rent is capitalised) 7% (as set in the 2004 Maybury Court LVT)
Deferment rate: 5% (as set in the Landmark Sportelli case)

Note that when exercising the right to buy a 90-year lease extension one also has to pay the landlord’s legal and valuation fees and potentially stamp duty.
Proceedings of the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal 2004- pdf file