Anyone have any experience using landdirect.ie?

Ohoopee

HI,

I am in the process of buying my first home. Sales is agreed, mortgage is approved…I have done everything I can do. My solicitor tells me he has yet to receive anything from the selling parties solicitor which got me looking around. I came across landdirect.ie to see if they might be running into problems with the deeds or something and I cam across something I don't understand and scares me a small bit.

So I find the the house and the plot of land it sits on on the map no problem. I click on the plot of land that goes with the house and two squares pop up under Property Details, one in Red and one in Green.

The Red one lists the property as a Freehold. The Green one lists the propert as a Leasehold. Both appear to be identical as far as the amount of acreage, both are listed as 018 hectaacres. I know what a freehold and a leasehold is but why is it showing both and what does the red and green colours mean? My fear is that the people own the actual house but are leasing the land it sits on..maybe the lease is for a lifetime or what ever but this could be what is slowing things down. Any help would be appreciated.

Henry Ford III

You are paying a solicitor to do various conveyancing tasks including perfection of the title. I'd suggest you ask therm.

Ohoopee

Thanks for your reply, Oh I plan to speak with my solicitor about this when I can. He is hesitant to comment at the moment though because he hasn't received anything from the selling parties solicitor. He is taking the attitude to wait and see. I get it but was just curious and thought someone on here might have encountered this before. Can a property be both freehold and leasehold at the same time?

L1011

Leasehold is extremely common for urban houses built pre 1970s. Every conveyancing solicitor in the country will be used to it.

(for houses - apartments are completely different) There will be a ground rent, likely tiny, paid to the freeholder. It may not be collected at all. The leaseholder can buy the freehold out. This is not expensive. Scare stories you see online refer to the English/Welsh system, not here.

Ohoopee

This is a 3 bedroom Bungalow out in the middle of nowhere….

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123340097#Comment_123340097

Was still done some times. Spend the tenner on the two folios if you're concerned, it should have the details in there. Your solicitor will end up doing the same and charging you for it too though!

Ohoopee

Ok, I just read that if the lease is less than 80 years old, a bank is unlikely to finance it…and obviously my offer was going to be less on the house if the land didn't come with it as I was not informed of this at any time during the viewing and offering stages. I also didn't have any idea how legally it would work…like what if the lease expired but I still own the house? Are they going to kick me out of my house? I suppose I will wait and let the solicitor handle it if you say it is no big deal.

L1011

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/123340211#Comment_123340211

Leases that short are not particularly common in Ireland, although they do exist. The original lease on my house was 499 years from 1972 as far as I remember, it had been bought out mid 90s well before I bought it.

99% of what you read is going to be England/Wales based and not relevant here. You'll see stuff about Section something or other lease extensions, getting dearer the less that is left etc etc. Not a bit of that applies to houses here - you just buy the freehold out and not for very much.

Ohoopee

I couldn't stand it…I paid the fiver each and ordered the two folios. If I am reading it correctly, it appears to be listed as a leasehold because it is jointly owned and one of the parties is living on the property. This matches with what I was told. The original owner passed away, family have decided to sell it and split the money is what I was told. It never occurred to me that they would solve this by making it a leasehold.

Dan Steely

Don't know about your particular issue op but the landdirect.ie we site is a disaster. Terrible design and implementation.