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Harringay, Haringey - So Good they Spelt it Twice!

HfH cost for extending home

Hello. I'm looking to make contact with anyone that has experience of dealing with the Homes for Haringey (HfH) Asset Management Dept. We bought our flat (leasehold) a couple of years ago and HfH are the freeholder. We have all our permissions in place to build an extension (planning, building regs etc) and have been battling to get landlord permission so we can start the building works. We now have landlords permission in principle but it's subject to agreeing a payment with the asset management team. The asset management team have asked for a large sum of money based on what they call a profit share of 50%. They will not accept our figures that demonstrate that there is no profit because of the costs of the building work and the cost of financing the loan. If you have experience of dealing with this I would really appreciate any hints and tips you can give me. The money they want from us will prevent us from being able to carry out the work as we simply can't afford it. They don't seem to be interested that we are doing this to have a decent place to live rather than to make money. Thanks.

Tags for Forum Posts: HfH, asset, building, extension

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Permalink Reply by Rob B on September 27, 2016 at 17:51

Yes, I have lots of experience of this (but not against HfH - just generally, as I'm a property litigation lawyer)

I think you need to instruct a surveyor who specialises in valuation. Ultimately I'm sure there is an absolute prohibition on structural alterations in your lease, so you are held to ransom. I'm sure HfH would like some money from you however, so if you have a professional arguing the figures for you they stand a better chance. You probably know this already but the standard calculation for how much to pay the freeholder in these scenarios is:

Premium = (Value added to property - cost of build)/2

(i.e. you split the profit equally between freeholder and leaseholder)

I can recommend you some surveyors if you like, but they might be a bit expensive as I'm based in the West End and the surveyors I work with are quite pricey... very good though! 

Permalink Reply by Mel on September 28, 2016 at 8:36
Thanks Rob, you make a good point about the surveyor. My figures were based on the formula that you list but they are not accepting them because it produces a negative result. I think that I will try once more with it myself and then if I still can't come to an agreement I will pay a surveyor to submit for me - it's a good point that they will find it harder to argue with a paid surveyor. Would you mind sending me a couple of names please? Their fee will certainly be a lot less than the amount being asked for. Thank you.
Permalink Reply by Rob B on September 28, 2016 at 13:54

Sure. I've send a connection request. I was speaking to a surveyor this morning on another matter and he said he'd be happy to give you a fee quote on this.

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