Owning a flat usually means owning a lease of the property, this is a ‘time-limited’ interest becoming shorter every day. The lease will ordinarily be granted for a set period of time , usually 99 or 125 years, although we have come across longer and shorter terms in Hampton Hill. Clearly, the length of lease left shortens over time. This may slip by relatively unnoticed when the flat or house needs to be disposed of or re-mortgaged. The shorter the lease the less it is worth and the more expensive it will be to procure a lease extension. Eligible long lease owners in Hampton Hill have the legal entitlement to extend the lease for a further ninety years in accordance with the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act. Do give due consideration before delaying your Hampton Hill lease extension. Holding off the cost now likely increases the price you will ultimately incur to extend your lease
Leasehold premises in Hampton Hill with more than one hundred years remaining on the lease are often referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease is worth the same as a freehold interest in your premises. In such circumstances there is often little upside in purchasing the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Barclays plc | Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage should be declined (see exception below). Leases with greater than 70 years but fewer than 85 years remaining must be referred to issuing office. Leases with fewer than 70 years should only be referred to the issuing office where the following scenario applies, as discretion may be applied subject to bank approval: • Property is located in any of the following prestigious developments: Cadogan, Crown, Grosvenor, Howard de Walden, Portman or Wellcome Trust Estates in Central London AND • The value of the property subject to the short remaining term is £500,000 or more AND • The loan to value does not exceed 90% for purchases, 90% like for like re-mortgages, 80% for re-mortgages with any element of capital raising and 80% for existing Barclays mortgage borrowers applying for additional borrowing; |
| Barnsley Building Society | 60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term. |
| Chelsea Building Society | 85 years from the date of completion of the mortgage. Please ensure that you explain the implications of a short term lease to the borrower. |
| Coventry Building Society | A minimum of 70 years unexpired lease at completion for all scheme types apart from Lifetime Mortgages (Equity Release), which require a minimum unexpired term of 80 years at completion. |
| Halifax | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
Using our service will provide you increased control over the value of your Hampton Hill leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in respect of lease length should you decide to sell. The conveyancing solicitors that we work with are well versed in the legislation handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
Following lengthy negotiations with the landlord of her one bedroom apartment in Hampton Hill, Laura commenced the lease extension process just as the lease was nearing the all-important eighty-year deadline. The legal work was finalised in January 2007. The landlord’s charges were negotiated to below five hundred GBP.
Last Autumn we were contacted by Mr Lewis Williams , who owned a purpose-built flat in Hampton Hill in April 2003. We are asked if we could approximate the price would be for a ninety year extension to my lease. Similar flats in Hampton Hill with an extended lease were valued around £237,600. The mid-range ground rent payable was £45 billed quarterly. The lease expired in 2092. Taking into account 67 years left we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £11,400 and £13,200 exclusive of legals.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Hampton Hill residence is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 60.45 years.