Stop! Your Lease Extension in Kennington Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Kennington are unaware that their original lawyer had a duty to warn them about future mortgageability and saleability issues. Before you pay thousands to your freeholder, let us audit your purchase history. You might have a claim that pays for your lease extension in full

If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Kennington has dropped toward the 80-year mark, your previous lawyer may be at fault. Our panel of experts specialise in recovering lease extension costs from negligent firms who failed to protect your investment.

Top reasons for Kennington lease extension


Top reasons for lease extension now:

A Kennington lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

When it comes to long leasehold premises in Kennington, you are actually buying a right to reside in a property for a prescribed time frame. In recent years flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a long period of time, you should consider a lease extension sooner rather than later. The general rule is that the shorter the lease is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly especially when there are less than 80 years remaining. Residents in Kennington with a lease drawing near to 81 years left should seriously think of extending it sooner than later. Once a lease has below eighty years remaining, under the current legislation the freeholder is entitled to calculate and charge a greater amount, assessed on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is due.

An extended lease is almost the same value as a freehold

Leasehold premises in Kennington with more than 100 years outstanding on the lease are sometimes regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your home. In such situations there is often little upside in purchasing the freehold unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges warrant it.

Banks and Building Societies may decide not to issue a mortgage with a short lease

Mortgage companies are really clamping down as regards to homes in Kennington with short leases. For instance you may find that their lending requirements are stricter and that they alter interest rates depending on how many years are left on the lease. Some may even refuse to lend completely, so if you needed to sell, your only options would be to find a cash buyer, or try your luck at auction thus reducing your market.

Lender Requirement
Barclays plc Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage are not acceptable.

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;
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.
Lloyds TSB Scotland Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
TSB Minimum of 70 years at mortgage commencement, with 30 years remaining at mortgage redemption.
Virgin 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion.

Why use us for your lease extension in Kennington?

Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Kennington,the lease extension experts that we work with will always be happy to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their in-depth market knowledge and the close ties they enjoy with Kennington valuers.

Kennington Lease Extension Case Summaries:

Natalie, Kennington, South London,

Trailing protracted correspondence with the freeholder of her ground floor apartment in Kennington, Natalie started the lease extension process just as the lease was approaching the crucial eighty-year threshold. The legal work completed in May 2005. The landlord’s charges were kept to an absolute minimum.

Kennington case:

Mrs N Flores purchased a one bedroom apartment in Kennington in November 2004. The question was if we could estimate the premium would likely be for a ninety year extension to my lease. Comparative residencies in Kennington with an extended lease were valued around £300,000. The average ground rent payable was £50 collected per annum. The lease ran out on 20 April 2102. Having 76 years outstanding we approximated the premium to the landlord to extend the lease to be within £8,600 and £9,800 plus expenses.

Decision in Hammersmith and Fulham

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Kennington premises is Ground Floor Flat 39 Bronsart Road in May 2010. Following a vesting order by West London County Court the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal concluded that the price to be paid for the extended lease of the premises was Thirteen Thousand Two hundred pounds (£13,200) in accordance with the valuation. The extended lease was granted for a term of 90 years from the expiry date of the Lease and at a peppercorn ground rent from the date of the vesting order. This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 74.77 years.