Stop! Your Lease Extension in Maulden Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Maulden 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 Maulden 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 Maulden lease extension


Top reasons for lease extension now:

A Maulden leasehold property depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

With a long leasehold property in Maulden, you effectively rent it for a certain amount of time. These days flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a long period of time, you should think about extending the lease sooner rather than later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the lease is the cost of extending the lease becomes disproportionately greater especially when there are fewer than 80 years left. Residents in Maulden with a lease nearing 81 years unexpired should seriously consider extending it sooner as opposed to later. Once a lease has less than eighty years remaining, under the current statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and levy a larger amount, assessed on a technical calculation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is payable.

An extended lease has roughly the same value as a freehold

It is generally accepted that a property with in excess of one hundred years remaining is worth roughly the equivalent as a freehold. Where an additional 90 years added to all but the shortest lease, the residence will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years in the future.

Banks and Building Societies will not issue a mortgage on a short lease

The propensity since over the last decade has been for lenders to tighten lending requirements generally - this has extended to the property over which the home loan is to be charged. This has meant the minimum number of years remaining under the lease required by banks has increased. In the past banks would lend on a lease with twenty years plus the term of the loan - typically fifty year leases but those requirements are being increasingly undermined by the requirement for longer and longer leases - many now have a minimum term of 75 years as standard.

Lender Requirement
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.
Leeds Building Society 85 years remaining from the start of the mortgage.
Skipton Building Society 85 years from the date of completion of the mortgage

For Buy to Let cases:
- lettings must not breach any of the lessee’s covenants; and
- consent of the lessor to lettings must be obtained if necessary
The Mortgage Works Minimum unexpired lease term is 70 years with 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:

Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer

New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer

Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.

SECOND HAND PROPERTIES

Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 70 years
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period less than or equal to 5 years

Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 70 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1.0% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary

Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI

NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)

Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house
- Any lease which is subject to a ground rent (or annual rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a ground rent (or annual rent) being reviewed and altered on any review basis or methodology

Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1.0% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary

Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn ground rent (annual rent) charges

For the avoidance of doubt, any new build properties completed but not sold pre 30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the lease conforms to the above guidance

* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years

LEASE EXTENSIONS

We require all lease extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to the Issuing Office

Please ensure that all lender enquiries are submitted (with full documentation/requirements) at least 2 weeks prior to exchange to allow sufficient time for review and decisioning.

Get in touch with one of our Maulden lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

Using our service gives you better control over the value of your Maulden leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and marketable in respect of lease length should you want to sell. The conveyancers that we work with have a in-depth market knowledge handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.

Maulden Lease Extension Case Studies:

Kyle, Maulden, Bedfordshire,

Kyle was the the leasehold proprietor of a high value apartment in Maulden being marketed with a lease of just over fifty eight years remaining. Kyle on an informal basis contacted his freeholder being a well known Manchester-based freehold company for a lease extension. The landlord indicated a willingness to extend the lease to 125 years on the basis of a new rent at the outset set at £200 per annum and doubled every twenty five years thereafter. No ground rent would be due on a lease extension were Kyle to invoke his statutory right. Kyle obtained expert advice and was able to make a more informed judgement and deal with the matter and readily saleable.

Maulden case:

Last month we were contacted by Dr Aiden Girard , who bought a studio flat in Maulden in February 2011. The question was if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would be for a ninety year extension to my lease. Identical residencies in Maulden with a long lease were valued about £206,200. The average amount of ground rent was £55 billed every twelve months. The lease terminated in 2082. Given that there were 56 years as a residual term we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £31,400 and £36,200 not including legals.

Maulden case:

In 2011 we were contacted by Dr Lucas Turner who, having took over the lease of a garden apartment in Maulden in May 2002. The question was if we could approximate the premium would likely be to prolong the lease by an additional years. Identical flats in Maulden with 100 year plus lease were worth £300,000. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £50 collected monthly. The lease end date was on 2 May 2102. Taking into account 76 years remaining we estimated the compensation to the freeholder for the lease extension to be within £8,600 and £9,800 exclusive of legals.