If a seller breaches their lease and the breach has not been settled before you purchase, there is a chance that the landlord could expect you to fix the breach.
When you are purchasing a property, it is important that your conveyancer investigates if there are any outstanding breaches and asks the seller to deal with them before you exchange contracts.
Having to deal with a breach that is not your fault can be very stressful.
Here is an example of how another leaseholder handled this situation:
John Scholes was looking to purchase a flat, where the current owner had converted the kitchen. The owner should have asked the landlord for permission, but didn’t, so she was in breach of the lease. The landlord had not objected to the alteration, possibly because they were not aware it had been done.
As a result, John was left with the following options:
- Fix the breach by converting the kitchen back the way it was. This would be very expensive and time-consuming; or
- Get retrospective consent from the landlord. This might be tricky and could also prove expensive; or
- Get indemnity insurance, which would payout if the landlord asked for the breach to be fixed; or
- Not buy the property.
After evaluating his options, John S eventually decided not to buy the flat.
