The Irish Times Property Desk answers some of your property queries. This week buying a home in France and ground rent.
Are we liable for ground rent?
We purchased our house leasehold over 15 years ago and have never received a demand for ground rent. Are we liable for ground rent and can we purchase out the ground rent under the 1978 Act when the landlord has died?
Many landlords don't demand rent on their leasehold residential properties - the sums involved are usually so small it would be more trouble than it's worth. You can buy out the ground rent now under the 1978 Act or wait until your landlord dies.
However, depending on the length of the lease, waiting could cost you a great deal of money. If there is more than 15 years to run on your lease, the cost of buying out your ground rent will be 23 times the rent plus six years back rent. For most people that works out at a relatively modest sum. If there is less than 15 years to run, you could be in to big money as the cost will be based on one-eight of the current market value of the land.
There are two methods of buying out the ground rent - through consent, whereby the landlord agrees; or arbitration, where the landlord is dead, uncontactable or some other difficulty.
In the case of arbitration, you lodge the money with the Land Registry's arbitrator and it is turned over to the landlord when whatever difficulties are sorted out. You don't say what part of the country you are in so we can't direct you to the relevant Land Registry office and its ground rent division but the numbers are in the telephone book. That office will be able to look up your particular house and quickly tell you the ground rent situation on it. The administration fees payable to the Land Registry office depend on whether you are living in the house and which of the two methods you are buying under.
Under consent the fees are €30 if you live there and €65 if you don't. Under arbitration it's €105 and €195 respectively.
Buying a home in France
My parents are buying a small holiday home in south-west France and it is turning into a long and very bureaucratic process as there was a lot of problems about the actual ownership of the property even though it was on the market. They have now been asked to sign an avant-contrat which none of us has ever heard of. We were under the impression that the promesse de vente was the first document to be signed. Is this usual?
Signing the promesse de vente and handing over 10 per cent of the purchase price will take the house off the open market, commit both sides to the sale and is generally looked on as the first stage in the process.
However, it could be that as the deal is taking so long to even get to this stage (not unusual in the very bureaucratic French system) that the sellers are getting nervous about your parents' intentions. The avant contrat is basically a document that shows how serious your parents are in going through with the deal. There shouldn't be any problem signing this.
However, it is absolutely vital that your parents get a solicitor to check that there is nothing in the small print that could trip them up at a later stage.
• Send your queries to Property Questions, The Irish Times, 10-16 D'Olier Street, Dublin 2 or e-mail propertyquestions@irish-times.ie.
Unfortunately, it is not possible to respond to all questions. The above is a representative sample of queries received. This column is a readers' service and is not intended to replace professional advice. No individual correspondence will be entered into.
