North End leases on residential properties are gradually decreasing in value. The shorter the remaining lease term becomes, the less it is worth – and accordingly any extension of the lease gets more expensive. It is the case that most North End tenants have the right to extend their lease by an additional 90 years under the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act. If you are a leasehold owner in North End you must check if your lease has between seventy and ninety years remaining. There are compelling reasons why a North End leaseholder with a lease having around 80 years remaining should take action to ensure that a lease extension is actioned without delay
Leasehold residencies in North End with over one hundred years outstanding on the lease are sometimes regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease is worth the same as a freehold interest in your property. In such circumstances there is often little upside in buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and service charges justify it.
| 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. |
| Leeds Building Society | 85 years remaining from the start of the mortgage. |
| Lloyds TSB Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date 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 |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
The conveyancers that we work with procure North End lease extensions and help protect your position. A lease extension can be arranged to be completed to coincide with a change of ownership so the costs of the lease extension are paid for using part of the sale proceeds. You really do need expert legal advice in this difficult and technical area of law. The conveyancing solicitor we work with provide it.
Mason owned a studio apartment in North End being sold with a lease of a few days over 59 years left. Mason on an informal basis approached his freeholder a well known Bristol-based freehold company for a lease extension. The landlord was keen to give an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years subject to a new rent at the outset set at £150 per annum and doubled every twenty five years thereafter. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be payable on a lease extension were Mason to invoke his statutory right. Mason procured expert legal guidance and secured satisfactory deal informally and readily saleable.
Last Christmas we were called by Mr W Edwards , who completed a garden flat in North End in November 2011. The dilemma was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) price would be for a 90 year lease extension. Similar properties in North End with 100 year plus lease were worth £255,000. The average amount of ground rent was £50 invoiced monthly. The lease terminated on 25 April 2096. Given that there were 71 years outstanding we estimated the premium to the freeholder to extend the lease to be within £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a North End flat is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case affected 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.