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Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

including wills and probate
terminal7
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Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

#170495

Postby terminal7 » October 1st, 2018, 1:55 pm

Currently selling flat that is in a retirement block that needs packs from freeholder and agents. Paid the 'fees' five weeks ago and whilst the freeholder has come up with the necessary the managing agents still have yet to deliver. Now the buyers are threatening to pull out ' 'if this is what the managing agents are like maybe we don't want to buy in this block' etc. Several phone calls to agents receive same ' next week - so busy' etc.

Is there any legal pressure my solicitors can exert? Also can I seek compensation from agents in the event that sale falls through?

T7

brightncheerful
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Re: Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

#170499

Postby brightncheerful » October 1st, 2018, 2:13 pm

Presupposing the lease contains an assignment clause and presupposing your solicitor has formally requested the freeholder's consent for licence to assign and presupposing that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld, your solicitor should avail of Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 and remind the agents that the freeholder would be liable for damages in tort if the purchaser withdraws by reason of the agents delay.

Clitheroekid
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Re: Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

#170893

Postby Clitheroekid » October 2nd, 2018, 6:30 pm

brightncheerful wrote:Presupposing the lease contains an assignment clause and presupposing your solicitor has formally requested the freeholder's consent for licence to assign and presupposing that consent cannot be unreasonably withheld, your solicitor should avail of Landlord and Tenant Act 1988 and remind the agents that the freeholder would be liable for damages in tort if the purchaser withdraws by reason of the agents delay.

This is not the situation. What you are referring to is, perhaps understandably, only usually relevant to commercial leases.

The vast majority of residential leases do not require the landlord's consent to assign, and there is no evidence from the OP's post that it's required here.

The problem in this case is the all too common one that the managing agents are delaying the sale by failing to supply information needed by the buyer / their solicitor. It's nothing to do with consent to an assignment of the lease, so the 1988 Act has no application.

Unfortunately, manco's are notorious for doing a lousy job very expensively, and there have been widespread complaints about this problem - https://www.mlplaw.co.uk/selling-leaseh ... t-company/

However, in practical terms there's not an awful lot you can do about it, though your solicitor might email them to say that the sale's in danger of falling through because of their delay and that if it does you will sue them. Sadly, such a threat is - as they will probably realise - largely empty, and as they probably receive such threats on a daily basis it's unlikely to make any difference.

Sometimes sheer harassment works - ringing them every half hour, for example. But make sure you do it yourself, rather than delegating it to your solicitors who may well charge £25 per phone call!

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Re: Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

#170910

Postby JonE » October 2nd, 2018, 8:28 pm

Clitheroekid wrote:The vast majority of residential leases do not require the landlord's consent to assign


I'd have thought that this being a "retirement block" quite probably means that assignments are restricted to those where at least one assignee is of a specified minimum age so it's possible that freeholder's consent of some form will be required so that the age of assignees can be verified to comply with that age requirement.

Whether this was part of the freeholder pack (which may have only covered the Ground Rent account) or has been delegated to ManCo is unstated. If the latter then I hope it isn't FirstPort: I have not been greatly impressed by them (or by Estates & Management, come to that).

Cheers!

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Re: Managing Pack from Agents holding up flat sale

#171016

Postby production100 » October 3rd, 2018, 10:15 am

When it happened to me I went to their office, explained why I was there, and said I would sit and wait for the paperwork. It took an hour sitting there, but it got their attention and I got the paperwork before I left.


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