Lucy Richardson

This is exactly what all reputable estate agents want NEVER to happen again. Please report them to the Ombudsman or whatever redress scheme they are signed up to as Mark mentioned.

This happened to a vendor who we were buying from the other day - very smart well know agency in a super smart part of London. When I mentioned it to someone I knew well in another office, they were so angry to hear that another office were doing this and tainting their agency's name, that they insisted that it was reported to head office, the ombudsman and the agency's CEO providing me with the full information to pass onto this vendor.

Please do NOT fall into his line of offering the individual anything. If you are on speaking terms with the vendor, mention it as no doubt they will be furious that this individual is trying to extract money from you and not acting in his best interest.

By the way, it is also illegal and can be punishable by law.... Read More

I would like to give you some advice. Firstly, extend your lease now as you are well below the 80 year level which is where the cost starts mounting up each year you lose time on your lease - something called marriage value kicks in. Secondly, even if you are great friends with your freeholder, please make sure that you do it through the formal route by serving formal notice via a leasehold enfranchisement solicitor. If you do not, you have no protection whatsoever by law, this can drag on for months and months, the freeholder has all the power and then has the right to set an updated and normally far in excess of what you presently have ground rent. If you do it formally you will receive 90 years on top of what you presently have and the ground rent will revert to Peppercorn (i.e. nil). You need to have the lease extension valued by a surveyor and a solicitor to serve the formal notice to the freeholder with a sensible price offered who then has 2 months to formally reply with his price after he has it valued by his surveyor and you will no doubt be able to agree a happy mid price. All your and their costs (surveyors and solicitors will be paid by you), However, if you do not do it formally, as I mentioned before, this can drag on for months and you have no protection on price paid, timing or future ground rent. The problem is that although you are great friends, money can change things and this relationship can deteriorate quickly if he feels that he wants more money than you know it is worth. This is all from personal experience where I was in exactly the same situation as you and then the family of the elderly lady upstairs got greedy and I had no protection as I stupidly did not serve the formal notice. I also left it 5 years and it cost me tens of thousands of pounds more than if I had done it when the lease was at 74 rather than 69 years. Good luck!... Read More