Paying Ground Rent

wishbone

Registered User
Messages
386
Not sure where I can put this thread but so I'll start here - apologies if it's in the wrong place.
My parents are looking at paying off their ground rent (to become freehold) to a company Birdfield Securities. They've been paying rent every year since 196*.
This particular company has no phone number or way to contact them other than post.
Has anyone had any experience with them? I rang the Land Registry yesterday and they said it was legit, it's just the information on how to proceed is pretty sparse on the document. It sounds like you pay 145e for an application fee and then I'm assuming they will send you a bill with the actual figure you need to pay for the ground itself.n They send you out a vesting cert which you then register with the Land Registry.

Anyway, just wondering if anyone has gone through this process and if what I have understood is correct?
Thanks!
Wishbone
 
I have ground rent on my property, Its €19 a year it's been €19 a year since I bought the property in 1998
and probably was that amount since the house was built
I get a letter every year from the estate agent advising me that I can purchase the freehold for €1337.02 (Aug 19)
I don't know about anybody else but I'm quite happy to keep paying the yearly rent then pay that amount for the freehold
I think if it was around €500 I might consider it
 
I'm quite happy to keep paying the yearly rent then pay that amount for the freehold

Do you know how long your lease is for.

Do you know what difference there is between your rights as a leaseholder and the rights you would have as freeholder.
 
Can't put my hand on the lease at the moment but as far as I remember the lease will be still be in place long after I'm dead
and as far as I'm aware there's nothing that I need to be concerned about in relation to my rights as a leaseholder vs a freeholder
other than it would be nice to own it outright
 
Can't put my hand on the lease at the moment but as far as I remember the lease will be still be in place long after I'm dead

There are certainly many leaseholds in Ireland for 999 years which is effectively for ever. Shorter periods, short enough to cause an issue for you or your heirs, although less common do exist.

and as far as I'm aware there's nothing that I need to be concerned about in relation to my rights as a leaseholder vs a freeholder
other than it would be nice to own it outright

There can be differences, i don't think they are the same across all leaseholds. A former employer of mine certainly paid significant money to purchase a freehold as without it he faced certain restrictions on his use of the property. I cannot now remember what they were. I think it had to do with a government grant for some work he wanted to do, it was only payable to the freeholder.
 
Just found my lease and it's for 999 years from 1967 so I should be dead for over 900 years before it becomes an Issue for me ;)

I know that there are certain circumstances where I would have to get the landlords permission before doing so
but other than that I've not come across any reason that would make me want to buy the freehold for the amount their looking for.
 
Hi everyone - and firstly sorry for the delay in getting back and secondly thank you for your inpute.
Since I was working with the solicitor for another reason I raised this. The solicitor found out the lease was for 499 years so we are not going to bother paying it off just yet. As the saying goes 'I'll leave it for the next man/woman'.
 
Just bear in mind that if you pay, say €1000 to buy the freehold, then if you sell that will likely add much more than €1000 to the value of the house. I would imagine, anyway.

I would far rather buy a freehold than a leasehold.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Leo
Just wondering did you ever buy out the freehold? Im looking to purchase a house and just found out that its leasehold.
 
If your asking me, it's still a no from me
Due to get their next request in a couple of days and I'll stick it in my file and forget about it
Just had a look at what they've been asking me to pay apart from my arrears
Title search & admin fee incl vat €184.5 which has been the same since this crowd took over this ground rent
but the purchase price has gone from €485.78 in March 17 to 1285.87 as of March 21
I'll probably send them a payment for the arrears sometime in 2030 if their lucky ;)
 
in the process of buying out ground rent from an Estate (owned by an English family for generations)
going through a solicitor at the moment.
have to register property with the Land registry & get Folio, long drawn out process..

I believe the Law changed in 2019 to make it easier for people to buy out their ground rent/vesting interest
 
Back
Top