Did I purchase a leasehold flat with one bed or two beds?

Don’t let the new freeholder bully you

Engage a good leasehold surveyor and a good specialist solicitor and serve a statutory lease extension

It will cost you as your lease is very short but it’s not an unsurmountable issue. Its the perfect opportunity to get your house in order and don’t admit to anything

I am definitely not an expert on this, but my thoughts are this:
1) Of course he didn't give consent, he wasn't the freeholder when the conversion happened. What evidence does he have that the previous Freeholder didn't give consent?
2) When you bought the property, doesn't the Freeholder have to sign a document agreeing the re-assignment of the lease? Ours did. Is the property described as 1- or 2-bedrooms in this document? (Or any other documentation the Freeholder would have had sight of)
3) What works were done during the conversion that specifically, according to the lease, require approval?
4) What exactly is the Freeholder's concern?
5) "Prior to the purchase, I could not have seen the lease document" Of course you could. But more importantly, so could your solicitor, whose job it was to identify such a discrepancy. He is probably retired now, but was he part of a firm that is still trading? If so, that is probably the best place to start.

He wasn't the leaseholder, he is trying to mug you.

He bought as is, he can not revisit this imo

Lastly I know of very few limited liabilities or stat liabilities that extent past 10 years, this includes clowcils etc, I cannot see how he has a a leg to stand on

Consider his position, in my view, is he will let you stew, then try to hit you up for a cash fee (bribe) at worst, since it has been so many years, you might owe a fee for the approval at the prior fee rate

Hope you get sorted and stand strong against a shake down artist

As a long time owner of multiple leasehold properties I would advise you to wait; the ball is in the freeholder's court, so see what (if anything) he decides to do then act on this and secure any necessary professional advice at that point. Unless he's insane, you a have a very low risk of legal proceedings - far too expensive to bring for what is essentially a non-issue from a business perspective. Any mitigating personal circumstance aside, you might want to see what (if anything) comes from Government re: lease extension and marriage values in the coming months (years!) and then get to work on extending that lease with the backing of a good lease specialist.

I’d be wondering why the freeholder is pursuing this issue 24 years after the fact, and think the FH is looking to sell on the FH title and the purchasers solicitors have looked at the title plans and noted the discrepancy.
This may be a variation of lease terms.
You should contact your original solicitor or their firm and request copies of all documents involved in your purchase including the seller’s details and specifically any consent document.
You’ll need your full details and any documents you have from that time with reference number.
This needs to be sorted because when you sell on you have statutory obligation to declare this dispute.
I wonder whether you bought for cash at auction and this is one of the risks of buying sight seen.

I had this exact issue recently except that I am the Freeholder and the flat was recently purchased in auction, with a short lease. When I took over the Freehold 8 years ago I knew the flat had been converted into a two bed years before but the Lease still showed it as a one bedroom flat. The then leaseholder was, shall we say, slippery, and I had no contact with him. The service charges were paid by the bank where he held his mortgage. It was rented to an elderly and disabled couple and I didn't want them to get evicted if I tried to get the flat reverted to a one bed. So I left it. Then the leaseholder went into mortgage arears and the bank repossessed the flat. The auction catalogue showed it as a two bed and I tried to get it changed but they didn't. I bumped into the potential buyers before they bid on it (they couldn't view the flat) and told them they'd have to revert the flat if they bought it. After their purchase I met with the new owner and we discussed it. He offered me £500 to let him change the lease to a two bed flat. I refused. By then I was living below the flat and didn't want it to be occupied by multiple people if it was a two bed (they were going to rent it out) as it would be noisy and the insulation isn't great.
They started the process of extending the lease, which we did through leasehold solicitors. On seeking advice about the 1/2 bed issue the solicitor told me that it would be very hard for me to get them to revert it to a one bed flat as the albeit illegal conversion was done so long ago. He said that it could be expensive for me in terms of legal costs, and it is unlikely I would win the case. Also, by accepting the ground rent/service charges for some years means that I was accepting the status quo. So, we went ahead and extended the lease which they were eager to do as they wanted to mortgage the property, and changed the lease to a two bed at the same time. They paid for the lease change. The leaseholder would always pay all costs for a lease extension in any case. I have accepted this and am happy that the paperwork is in order.
I would advise the op to use a specialist leasehold solicitor to work with him on this matter.
I think it will be years before the statutory changes are made to the leasehold law and in any case, it will always be costly to extend a lease, though the costs might be reduced in future. The longer he waits and the shorter the lease gets, the more it will cost. Flats with short leases are sold cheaply, so it is a cost which would be expected and the investment gain would well exceed the cost of extending the lease.

Reply to the comment left by Helen at 30/01/2025 - 13:07
Most of the key points already covered.
My understanding is that 4 years and 10 years are magic numbers from a planning perspective but forget the exact detail. Either way, you're well past that.
https://urbanistarchitecture.co.uk/the-four-year-rule-explained-certificate-of-lawfulness-application-for-existing-use-or-development/

The key point is that is unlikely to be illegal and only (potentially) civil from a contractual point - probably breach of no structural changes without permission clause in the lease.

Indemnity insurance for onward sale is usually far cheaper than legal fees.

Thank you everyone, for your time in suggesting how to deal with this issue now.

I have just had the freeholder email me whereby he has given me two options, 1. that I revert it back to 1 bedroom flat and pay his surveyor a fees of £750.00 plus VAT.
2. He is willing to Amend the lease and License it as 2 Bedroom Flat as is, for a sum of £5000, plus his solicitor's fee which could be as much as £500, but exact fee may be more or less,
And a fees of £500 including VAT to draw up the new plans and have them attached to the lease.

So in all it may cost me around £6000, which is going to be about as much cost as reverting it back to 1 bedroom flat,

I also pointed to Freeholder that after 24 years it is a long time as well as the fact that he acquired the Freehold interest 2 or 3 years after I purchased the flat as advertised as 2 bedrooms,

Given the fact that court cases can go either way, depending on the mood of a Judge , so decided to go easy route though somewhat at some cost which could have been avoided in the first place if my Solicitor had pointed out that the flat had been converted to 2 bedrooms without the free holder's consent. However it is the free holder who benefits from a 2 bedroom property rather than a 1 bed, as he can charge more for extending the lease for a 2 bed rather than 1 bed., so I could end up losing a court case and still be forced to revert to one bed and pay the court costs and freeholders legal costs, So I have chosen this rout pay around £6K and move on.

I have come across some freeholders 'trying it on' to see what they can get away with. I very much doubt he has a leg to stand on and personally would stand my ground. The last example was trying to charge me each time I had a change of tenant and threatening legal action if I didn't pay. I pointed out that was not referred to in the lease and eventually they backed down.
Not the same as your case I know but I still think they are just trying itvon!

The freeholder cannot unilaterally vary the lease and only with agreement with the leaseholder.
However as he accepted GR and SC from the leaseholder for 24 years then he cannot now argue that he did not consent. He did by default.
Point is where does it leave you when you assign your lease which states it is one bed.
I suggest you apply to the First Tier Property Tribunal for a ruling but whatever the Judgement which is legally binding on the FH ,the Tribunal may determine the flat is returned to one bed to comply with the Lease and it is the FH’s responsibility and liability as he did not dispute it for 24 years.

Gets you off the hook but take legal advice from a specialist solicitor