Cost of my freehold tripled in months

JOHN Hazeldine saved for ten years to be able to move out of his parents’ home.

But within months of paying £160,000 for his three-bedroom house he was told the price of buying the freehold had tripled after builder Taylor Wimpey sold it to an investment firm.

The 31-year- old company director said: ‘It was my first property, it was all new to me. I went into the Taylor Wimpey sales office, we went through everything and they hardly mentioned the leasehold.

‘I asked, “Could I buy the freehold?”, and they said I could within three years for £5,000.

‘Then 12 months into living here, I got a letter out of the blue informing me they had sold the freehold to a company called Mainstay.

‘When I inquired to Mainstay, they said, “We want £15,000

now”. Within a year, they just did it from underneath my feet.

‘There was no prior warning. They didn’t bother to consult the people living in the properties. I was shocked.’

Mr Hazeldine, right, said the freehold was now unaffordable. It runs to 100 years and the owner is Mainstay Group. At the moment, the ground rent for his home in St Helens, Merseyside is £2 5 a year.

He said he had been excited about owning his first home, but was now disillusioned, adding: ‘I couldn’t wait to get the keys.

‘Twelve months later I’m just disheartened. If I knew they would put it up to £15,000 I wouldn’t have bothered, I would have walked away.

‘I wouldn’t want to sell the property but if it came to it I would have a problem because nobody would want it.’