Cross Leases

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By Claire Coe, Friday, 21 September, 2007, Agent Care

We often have enquiries from agents and clients regarding cross leases. As agents will be aware, purchasers can be nervous about buying cross leased titles. The idea that their dreams of extending the property cannot be fulfilled can sometimes be too much for them! There can also be difficulties when there have already been extensions carried out on the property, which make the title defective. The good news is these can be corrected.

Each cross lease title is based on a flats plan or a “footprint” of the building. The boundary of the title is the exterior walls of the house. Enclosed extensions built outside that flats plan may make the title defective.

The process of correcting the title is not easy though. The property needs to be re-surveyed by surveyors who will mark the new outline of the property. Lawyers then apply for a new title to the property. This can be a time consuming and expensive ordeal.

Other structures such as garages, which do not attach to the “footprint” of the building, do not make the title defective. However, building such a structure requires the consent of the owner or owners of the other flats.

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