Ground Rent

We are having some issue with ground rent as the leasehold is nearly up and they are looking for a huge amount to buy the freehold. Are they allowed demand a huge amount? what would ahppen if i didnt renew the leasehold? would i have troble selling or could they evict me?

Any help would be great

Get legal advice. Quickly. Please. Tell your solicitor that you want the papers sent to a barrister, that you want detailed advice as to how to proceed and that you are happy to pay for it. To do otherwise is false economy.

Thanks, i am doing that but i cannot seem to get a straight answer as to what would happen if i didnt pay the crazy amount

This is because it may well depend on the type of property and the type of lease, and these things are not necessarily straightforward. Detailed advice from counsel is the only way forward and in the interim your solicitor is right not to commit to an opinion.

Take dartmouth square as an example.

I contacted the Land Registry recently about buying out our leasehold.
http://www.landregistry.ie/eng/
If you contact them they should be able to help you - they charge a flat fee and have fixed rates for buying out the remaining leasehold.

According to our solicitor, a property is unsaleable if there are 70 years or less on the leasehold.

For the record, I just double checked about fees on this.

Fees for processing range from €30ish to €100ish depending on whether they have to track down the leasehold owner or not, and whether the property owner is resident. Full details can be found here:-
http://www.landregistry.ie/eng/Grou...nd_Rents_Purchase_Scheme_Explanatory_Leaflet/

Thereafter, fee for buying out leasehold is estimated at 29 times annual fee. I was told that our annual fee of €15 was an average one.

Therefore, our total outlay will be around €550 for buying out our 92 year leasehold. Do give the Land Registry a call and they may be able to sort this out for you without having to involve barristers!

Simp, I believe you're describing the ground rent purchase scheme from the land registry. Not sure if this applies in the case of short leases.

The current ground rents legislation are under constitutional challenge before the Supreme Court so you are unlikely to get a definitive answer from Counsel until that issue has been decided.