u/NewEnglandJay

Potential Deed of Variation

I am purchasing a flat in England. My solicitor has raised that a deed of variation may be required due to some wording in the lease. My understanding is that the current lease "allows" the freeholder to take over day-to-day managing of the building if that management company goes under/fails to do so. My solicitor has raised leases normally state the freeholder is obliged to do so rather than allowed to and for this a deed of variation will be required and the whole block's leases to be amended. The seller's will not pay for this and I hear the costs will be in the thousands. What would you do here? My initial thoughts were that this needs to be done, but as I've thought more about it, the other 7 flats owned by the freeholder must all have the same wording and have been sold over the years without a deed of variation. Or I of course could pull out. So I want to hear some other opinions.

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u/NewEnglandJay — 2 days ago

I am in the process of buying a flat, the solicitor is currently working on enquiries and sent off for the searches around 7 weeks ago. Apparently we have received all searches except for the local authority one which the solicitor keeps telling me can take a bit longer to come back. How long did it take you to receive your local authority searches? I've heard it can take up to a month, but no one I know has had to wait 7 weeks with no end in sight so I want to get a few opinions.

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u/NewEnglandJay — 14 days ago