Unconsented work. Cross lease.

[kiwi]

Hi.
I'm looking at a house which is cross lease. It has a garage joined on to the house and a conservatory both of which are unconsented and I assume did not go through the legal process to get permission from the other owner.

Does anyone have any advice about the possible implications?

I am asking my conveyancer as well but thought I'd cast the net a bit wider. And generate a bit more activity on the forums

I don't like the house actually. My wife does. It would almost leave enough money over to pursue the things I love.

[Praktica]

When we sold my mother's house, after she died, we found that the small porch/conservatory on the front was unconsented. One of the eventual buyer's conditions was for us to sort that out. It cost us about $600. I don't know the detail of the sorting - it was handled by the executors.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

The choice is with you. You either require the unconsented work to be corrected, or you offer at a level that recognises that risk and correct it yourself.

My parents bought a property my father wanted, but my mother did not. She insisted he offer a ridiculous figure, he did, and the estate accepted it. One of the better deals they did lol. One of my properties came back with a dodgy builders report on the garage, buyer reduced his offer by 5k, annoying, but better than waiting around for another offer.

Buyer always has a small advantage once there is that leverage. Up to you how far you push it!

[Olive]

Assuming that you are looking at lack of consent from the Council as well as lack of consent from the other lessor/lessee you will need to brace for some serious costs to sort it out. The first step is to find out exactly what the story is.

Read the cross-lease and pin down exactly what its requirements are as they vary depending on the age of the arrangements.

Check the Council records and pin down whether or not the garage is consented.

Then if you still feel like proceeding have a talk with your lawyer.

[kiwi]

Some good feedback. Thanks.

[Underwhelmed]

I owned a cross-leased property a few years ago and will not ever buy another. It very much depends on what the neighbour is like as you will need their permission for any further alteration to the footprint of the property, something a standalone property wouldn't necessarily require. I suppose that my view is affected by the last neighbour from hell as the previous two were no problem. It just seems that if your neighbour is 'dificult' a cross-lease exacerbates the situation.