Ground Rent Claims

Professional negligence claims arising from ground rents on leasehold properties are a relatively new phenomenon. They arise because of the tendency for the developers of new housing estates to keep the freeholds of the properties they have built, and only sell the leaseholds to their buyers. Where a property is leasehold, under the terms of the lease, ground rent usually has to be paid to the freeholder on an annual basis. In many of these leases, there are clauses which enable the freeholder to double the ground rent figure regularly, which can mean properties become unsellable, when the ground rents get to high. The good news is that it might be possible to recover losses from the conveyancing solicitors who dealt with the leasehold property purchase. In many cases, these solicitors will have failed to explain the consequences of ground rent clauses to buyers, meaning they can bring a claim for professional negligence against them.