AN ELDERLY resident was left fearing she may be charged tens of thousands of pounds to purchase the freehold on her home which she already owned.

Earlier this year 70-year-old Margaret Price began making enquiries into the prospect of buying the head lease on her Manchester Road home.

After discussing with her solicitor Mrs Price discovered that the company which owned the head lease, an East Central Property Ltd, would be willing to sell their legal interest in her house for £2,600 plus additional costs and VAT.

However not much later she was informed that it while it was East Central Property who owned the head lease, Bury Council may own the freehold.

She was advised to sell one of the interests to the other party in order to only pay one set of legal fees and premium. But unbeknown to her the freehold had previously been purchased by her home’s former occupants, meaning she already controlled it.

Freeholders own their property outright, including the land it is built on, indefinitely. While leaseholders only own the property subject to the terms of their lease agreement, often for a long period of time such as 999 years.

Head leases are documents from which all other leases relating to a property are granted and account for grants of leases to another person for a lesser period of time, such as 99 years.

On further contact with Bury Council, Mrs Price said she received a “scary email”, wrongly stating that they owned the freehold interest.

They added that, due to there only being a “short term” of 35 years left on the 99 lease on Mrs Price’s home, the likely offer price would be higher than expected.

Subsequently the council offered to sell the freehold for £28,500, plus £400 in legal costs, £400 in surveyor’s fees and an additional £65 sealing fee. Mrs Price said: “I really was quite scared and I was so angry and upset.

“I’m 70-years-old, retired and live alone. I couldn’t believe the price was so high and the tone of the email was quite threatening.”

After once again speaking with her solicitor she was told that she already owned the freehold on her property, not Bury Council, and had done for several years.

She also discovered that she had been over-paying on her ground rent.

On that basis East Central Property revised their offer to sell the head lease, cutting it to £950 plus an additional £350 and VAT and legal fees.

After the issue had been cleared up the council apologised for the “confusion and distress” caused to Mrs Price saying: “It is very unusual to have acquired the freehold and not the intermediate leasehold interest.”

As Mrs Price’s enquiry had been the third in recent times they said that they had not checked the Land Registry as it “seemed logical” that the council owned the freehold.

But they confirmed that the Council’s records were correct and that their freehold titles did not include Mrs Price’s home.

Following her ordeal Mrs Price is now seeking to help others avoid the stresses she has suffered.

She is encouraging people to know the difference between freehold and head hold leases and how to avoid being taken advantage of.

Mrs Price said: “I don’t want compensation I just want people to know. I feel other people need to check and be aware of what is going on.”

Bury Council spokesman said: "Bury Council can confirm receiving an enquiry about purchasing the freehold interest for this property and that there was an initial misunderstanding in respect of this enquiry. 

"However, the matter has since been clarified and resolved.  The officer dealing with this issue has apologised to the complainant both in person and in writing and provided a full explanation as to why this misunderstanding came about."