Received a bill for ground rent, leasehold.

Menas

Hello all,

We bought our house in 2008 and today received a letter from a Land securities company saying that they represent the freehold title owner for our land.
They say the annual rent is €19.50 per year and that we owe them €254.
They also offer that we can buy out the leasehold for the princely sum of €959.
This comprises the 254 back rent, 520 purchase price and 184 in search and admin fees.

Since the day we purchased the house this is the first demand for rent we have received.
My questions are:
Am I liable for just the rent from date of my purchase to now? Or do I owe arrears nor paid by previous owner?
The letter lists the freehold owner, this name is different than that on my title deeds - is this dodgy or just mean that the freehold has changed hands?
What could happen if I just ignore this letter? It was not addressed to me personally, but to 'the home owner'.

Is it normal to receive these type rent demands? Perhaps naively I had thought they never got paid!

Penny Tration

Was the letter from <snip>?

Got one in the door the other day. It's a scam.

Menas

It was <snip>!
Is it a well known scam?

Menas

Looking on the interweb they do seem to be a legit company. <snip>

Mrs OBumble

Surely when you purchased, you found out who owns the freehold?

Menas

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Surely when you purchased, you found out who owns the freehold?

Yes, there it is noted on the freehold, just a name and the amount of IR£20 per year. We never heard from them. And now we get this letter from <snip> looking for €19 per year and back rent etc.

spaceHopper

I'm not 100% sure but I think you can only got back 6 years. When we bought we started our solicitor off buying out the lease hold, she had to write to four house (two house either side of ours) to inform them.

The letter you received sounds like a scam. I wouldn't write back with out contacting the land registry first to see if they know about them

Greenmachine

Pretty sure you won't be pursued for this money. They trying to get money for old rope really. While ground rent is a real thing, rightly or wrongly, the costs of collecting make it not very worthwhile for the freeholder.

spin777

What evidence is it that it is a scam? Seems legit, and if your property is leasehold, they have the right to collect ground rent. The cost to purchase the freehold is limited under legislation so they can only charge you a certain amount to buy out the freehold.

OP, I would send the letter to your solicitor, he'll know the answer straight away.

seanboy44

I got one of these too. Rang solicitor about it. He asked did I live in X housing estate. I said yes. He said it is a scam and not to pay it.

The letter had the exact same figures on it as mentioned above. We have owned the house for 17 years (and have never been asked to pay this charge before), so if it was legit it would surely have different figures, depending on how long you own the home

Solicitor said you can only go back 6 years in ground rent.

seanboy44

seanboy44 wrote: »

I got one of these too. Rang solicitor about it. He asked did I live in X housing estate. I said yes. He said it is a scam and not to pay it.

The letter had the exact same figures on it as mentioned above. We have owned the house for 17 years (and have never been asked to pay this charge before), so if it was legit it would surely have different figures, depending on how long you own the home

Solicitor said you can only go back 6 years in ground rent.

Also solicitor said if it was legit, they would have put your name on the letter, not to the 'Home Owner'

Penny Tration

spin777 wrote: »

What evidence is it that it is a scam? Seems legit, and if your property is leasehold, they have the right to collect ground rent. The cost to purchase the freehold is limited under legislation so they can only charge you a certain amount to buy out the freehold.

OP, I would send the letter to your solicitor, he'll know the answer straight away.

Our property isn't leasehold. We got a letter. They didn't know the owner's name. The company directors have owned <snip> other failed businesses. My solicitor agreed that it was a scam. Anything else?

Victor

Folks, please be aware that:

There are scams out there.

There are people who give dodgy legal advice on the internet, some of which is politically or financially motivated.

There are ground rent landlords out there that have entitlements. Ground rent tenants can potentially lose their properties / homes if they don't respect this.

If you get a letter like this, send a copy to your solicitor.

The rules of defamation apply to what you say on the internet.

Moderator

xper

If, having checked with your solicitor that the letter is a scam, would forwarding it the Gardai not be the next step? Surely this is fraud or similar and going on at an organised level that warrants their attention?

tomasrojo

I got one as well, also addressed to "The Owner". My solicitor advised me to ignore it. €19.x rent mentioned as well, though in my case no back rent, according to the authors of the letter. The letter doesn't tie with the documentation my solicitor has. The lessor they mention isn't the original lessor, and my ground rent is not €19.x, it's very much less and my solicitor found no mention of a rent review.

joker77

Anything ever come of this? My folks just got a letter with the exact same amounts

Eldarion

joker77 wrote: »

Anything ever come of this? My folks just got a letter with the exact same amounts

Addressed to "The Owner" or to their actual names directly?

joker77

The owner.

They bought the house in 72 or 73, moved in as the first occupier, haven't paid (or been asked to pay) ground rent in at least 30 years.

Bigcheeze

It's a scam. Just ignore it.

tomasrojo

Got a follow-up letter today. I'm €0.00 in arrears and they would appreciate payment.

Dobbs1996

This is a scam. We own the free hold on our house and we got a letter

xper

tomasrojo wrote: »

Got a follow-up letter today. I'm €0.00 in arrears and they would appreciate payment.

I'd be half tempted to end them a cheque for zero euros made out to "Scamming F***wits".

I'll ask again, has anyone who received this letter contacted the Gardai?

Victor

Dobbs1996 wrote: »

This is a scam.

This may be a scam.

Ground rents are a very real thing and can be bought out during the lease for a relatively modest amount. Leaving the lease expire and not buying it out can cost the building owner hundreds of thousands of euro.

tomasrojo

xper wrote: »

I'd be half tempted to end them a cheque for zero euros made out to "Scamming F***wits".

I'll ask again, has anyone who received this letter contacted the Gardai?

My solicitor recommended that I ignore it, so I'm going with that for now. If they send more detailed or threatening sounding letters I'll think again.