Quite often when we’re in the process of moving house and the solicitors have performed the necessary checks on the property being bought, we get a shock to hear that there are restrictions on the property. But does this mean the property can’t be sold? Not necessarily. Sometimes it simply means that something must happen in order to lift the restriction before the property can change hands.
What are restrictions?
Restrictions mean that something must be fulfilled before a property can be sold. This may be something like a Consent Required restriction, where a third party must agree before a property can be sold (often, the mortgage lender or a landlord).
Another example is a Charity restriction. When a charitable trust is involved, a restriction may be placed on a property stating that it can’t be sold for any less than its market value.
A Form LL restriction is another restriction which is put in place to protect the property owner from a type of fraud where people try to impersonate the homeowner to sell the property and keep the cash. More information about a Form LL restriction can be found at GOV.UK
Something that is reasonably common these days on new-build flats and houses, is a restriction in favour of the property’s management company which requires the payment of a service charge for maintaining, for example, common areas or private roads which form part of the property site.
Can the property still be sold?
Yes – assuming that the conditions of the restriction are met. Sometimes, this is as simple as paying the mortgage back to the lender if the restriction details that the lender has a mortgage secured on the property.
On other occasions, where a restriction requires the authorisation of a third party, it may simply be a case of obtaining that third party’s written approval before the sale of the property.
Fortunately, restrictions on a property will come with a written list of specifically what needs to be done in order to make the property eligible for sale.
