Hi! I have a question. I am buying a whole building that has 4 self contained flats.
The freehold to the entire building and 3 of the 4 flats are owned by Party A.
However, Party A created and sold the leasehold to the 4th flat to Party B many years ago (retaining the freehold). Party B has agreed to sell me the leasehold to this 4th flat at the same time so I can own the entire building (ie all 4 flats).
The end result will be that I own the freehold of the entire building and flats 1-3 however as you can see I will be the owner of both the leasehold AND the freehold to flat 4 at the same time (by virtue of the fact I am buying the freehold of the entire building which contains flat 4 within it).
Am I right in thinking this is not a problem – to own the previously created leasehold to flat 4 and the freehold to the entire building that has flat 4 within it at the same time?
I would potentially look to extinguish the lease at some stage so all 4 flats would be held by freehold. There doesn’t seem to be much benefit to me keeping the leasehold if I already have the freehold to the building.
I found many examples on general forums of this occurring and it being ok (acquiring the freehold of a building and the leasehold of one of the flats within it simultaneously). It appeared to be more an issue if I was a freeholder and wanted to issue a new leasehold to myself in which case I cannot as one cannot issue a leasehold to oneself as freeholder.
However as this leasehold was already previously created as a distinct legal interest and sold off to a separate party and I wish to bring everything back under one umbrella I assume this is ok for me to have both? With a view to potentially extinguish the lease after?
Assuming this is ok would it be compulsory to extinguish the lease straight away or can I own both freehold and lease for a while and choose when to do it, if ever? Thanks!
