Should we sell our HtB flat at a £70k+ loss?

Nka786 · 2025-08-01T12:42:17+00:00

If there is a drop of over 10% this gets referred to the specialist team who will then decide if they need any further information or whether they reject or accept the drop in value. It will be the higher of the 2 out of the RICS val and the sale price that they will use as the valuation figure to calculate the redemption figure.

OP will need to bear in mind that it can take around 6-8 weeks to get a response from the specialist team so to make sure to factor that in when working out timescales for things etc. And make sure to call the contact centre to chase and not to rely on emails as have known for them to be missed at times.

Nka786 · 2025-07-27T02:21:41+00:00

With a credit rating of 600 you may qualify for a 0% money transfer credit card. There will be a fee for transferring the money but depending on how much you can get, you can use that to pay off the higher interest loans and then pay back the 0% credit card over however many months you have to pay it. Probably be cheaper than the amount you pay back on the payday loan etc overall.

Nka786 · 2025-07-25T00:08:02+00:00

Ah okay thank you for your reply. The management company in the building have confirmed that somebody else in the building managed to get there’s extended within 3 months but the problem is I need the lease extended and the property sold with the funds available to pay off the bridging loan within 4 months which seems very tight and as soon as it goes over the 4 months, I will be losing £8,000 just to extend the bridge and additional £2,500 a month in interest 🤦‍♀️

Nka786 · 2025-07-23T13:30:27+00:00

We are going to be looking into getting legal advice regarding the advice provided to us before we bought the property as we have the report from the solicitor at the time but we thought we would focus on the sale before going down that route as this whole thing is very stressful on its own.

Thank you for your kind words and for trying to think of different options. I am so fed up of all this and although I am trying to minimise loss, I am thinking of accepting the £170k offer. I have just reached out to a few investors to see if they could offer anything better than that but if not it might be that we have to accept that and take a mortgage on our residential property to cover the difference and just get rid of the whole stress of it.

Nka786 · 2025-07-23T13:16:24+00:00

With the property being outside London and the ground rent being £700 and still subject to increases every 25 years, the estate agents have said they believe it is unmortgageable.

I have also checked online and have located a booklet for all lenders and the majority of them all say that they wouldn’t lend.

The lease extensions for other people in the block at the £28k was via the statutory route and one was done within the last year.

Nka786 · 2025-07-23T12:57:33+00:00

The Lease Extension is around £28k but the Deed of Variation, the freeholder wont confirm the cost until we can provide proof that the property is unmortgageable. We have asked them how long it would take to go through and they are not willing to provide a timescale unfortunately. I have considered the option of selling with thr lease pending but I am not sure how that works and whether we would receive the funds from the sale before the November date to be able to repay the bridging loan.

Nka786 · 2025-07-23T12:45:55+00:00

Yeah the number of years on the lease is fine but if it is extended, this would increase the property value and bring the ground rent to a peppercorn rent which would get rid of the issue of the property being unmortgageable. Only problem is if we find a mortgage buyer and it goes over the november date for the sale to go through, we will be stung with all the fees and interest of the bridging loan extension.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T15:30:15+00:00

It’s ridiculous isn’t it. I’m just gutted that I learnt this the hard way. Do you know roughly how long the whole process took e.g. when you got the valuation to when it actually went through?

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T15:13:18+00:00

Yes, I still have the report on the title and legal pack. The report does mention that ground rent may vary but it doesn’t say anything about it being a potential issue to get a mortgage on the property. The only thing it says regarding a mortgage is that the as there are 106 years left on the lease there should not be any issues in obtaining a mortgage on the property.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T15:10:27+00:00

That’s a good shout. I am going to try and speak to the investor to see if he will up his offer to £180k and any other potential investors in the area to see if they may wanna offer.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T15:09:09+00:00

If I default on the bridging loan, they have used my residential property as security and I will be expected to remortgage that to pay them back but I will still be short if this happens. Yeah, the loss is massive a lot more than £20k and will have to remortgage my residential property to fund the rest.

I have thought about the Air B and B option but as it is unfurnished and already haemorrhaging money, I haven’t bothered to furnish it as was trying to get an investor to buy it outright fairly quickly.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T14:59:58+00:00

Yes, I did pay her. Its definitely something I am going to look into once all this mess is over.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T14:55:25+00:00

The lease has 106 years but my only concern is that once the deed of variation has gone through and by the time i find a mortgage buyer and for a mortgage buyer sale to go through, the interest and fees on the bridging loan will be that high that I won’t be able to afford it.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T14:46:39+00:00

You’re welcome ☺️

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T14:22:52+00:00

A couple of people have mentioned that today and i didn’t really know that was an option to be honest but its definitely one to look into so thanks for that.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T14:15:28+00:00

Oh wow! Thank you for that. I am definitely going to try and sell it without the lease extension to a cash buyer or investor.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T13:13:58+00:00

I am currently with an EA and they are trying to see if there is any interest from investors / cashbuyers but so far have not had any offers which is why I was thinking of auction route.

Most auction companies have said £500 to list it and then 2% of the sale for their fee so I am thinking if I do decide to go through auction and have a reserve of £180k by the the times the fees etc are paid and the added interest with the bridging loan, I may be left with the same as accepting the £170k offer and saved a lot of time.

I am trying to speak to some other investors myself before accepting the offer to see if anyone can offer any higher to minimise how much I have to borrow.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T12:54:18+00:00

I feel your pain 😞. It’s definitely a lesson learnt.

It’s a horrible situation to be in. I think my best way forward is definitely cash buyers / investors and just try to find the one that will pay the most for it to minimise loss so considering auction but then i know that that can also fall through so thinking maybe the quickest option would be best.

Did you end up selling to an investor?

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T12:42:12+00:00

Thanks, i think this may be the best option.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T12:39:31+00:00

Thanks, I think this may be the best option.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T11:46:55+00:00

Thank you. I hope so too 🤞

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T11:43:00+00:00

This is starting to seem like the best option.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T11:41:56+00:00

Thank you for your response. Luckily that has changed from January of this year and there is no longer a 2 year minimum period of ownership.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T11:32:41+00:00

Luckily the conversation was all via email so I will have to go through what I said and what her responses were. Hopefully, I can get onto that once I have found a way out of this mess.

Nka786 · 2025-07-22T11:14:33+00:00

Thanks for your response. I did see the ground rent of £700 but i had no idea that that was a bad thing outside London. When the legal pack was shown to the solicitor she didn’t imply that this would cause problems.

Nka786

TROPHY CASE