I have a little terraced house built in about 1905. I’ve always treated it as my own, but now I’ve had a letter from a “reversionary“ company that says they own it. I’ve checked my title deeds and it seems that I have got the balance of a lease for – wait for it – 999 years from 1905. They are saying I have to pay them a rent of 25p a year. No one’s ever asked for rent in the 15 years I’ve owned it yet they’re asking for £3.75p. They say if I don’t pay it they’ll get me out. I propose to ignore it – would you agree?

Sorry, no, I wouldn’t. You should never ignore anyone who has a legal right to payment from you. But there are a couple of things to consider first.

I’d bet that when the house was built the builder kept the freehold and sold long leases to all the buyers in the row of houses he built. In those days, they saw the rent they could charge as giving them a decent income. However, they didn’t bargain for inflation, which has made the rents worthless today. And although your lease won’t end until you and I have long since departed, the freehold still has a value.

I suspect that an ancestor of the original builder has come across the freehold title (maybe following a death) and has decided to sell the freeholds to this reversionary company for perhaps a few hundred pounds. These companies see their purchase of the freehold as a commercial opportunity to make money out of the owners – so be careful. They look at the small print in the lease and see if they can charge you for breaching conditions in the lease. Perhaps the lease says you have to get their consent before you can make alterations to the structure of the building. Inevitably since 1905 some structural alterations will have been made – is there evidence of the freeholder’s consent? If not, they might be able to refuse to consent to a sale of your house unless you pay their (unreasonable) fee – although this is dependent on the terms of the lease.

Documents from 1905 are not only complicated, but they’re often also difficult to read. They may be in copper script, but have you ever tried to read lines of ancient writing in 24-inch rows? But you should always read that small print and make sure they are correct in their demands. For example, if they try to charge a fee for registering a change of ownership they are out of order unless that power is in the lease.

You also need to know that they can only claim six years’ arrears of rent – the princely sum of £1.50. So show them you know your rights – and hopefully by 2904AD some government will have outlawed this seedy little business of theirs.