With a residential leasehold premises in Pimlico, you are actually purchasing an entitlement 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 lengthy period of time, you should consider extending the lease sooner rather than later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly especially when there are less than 80 years left. Leasehold owners in Pimlico with a lease drawing near to 81 years left should seriously consider extending it without delay. Once a lease has under 80 years left, under the relevant statute the landlord is entitled to calculate and demand a larger premium, based on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is due.
Leasehold premises in Pimlico with in excess of 100 years remaining on the lease are sometimes referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease is worth the same as a freehold interest in your home. In such situations there is often little upside in buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and estate charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Accord Mortgages | 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. |
| Bank of Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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. |
| TSB | Minimum of 70 years at mortgage commencement, with 30 years remaining at mortgage redemption. |
Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a landlord in Pimlico,the lease extension lawyers that we work with will always be prepared to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their in-depth market knowledge and the close ties they enjoy with Pimlico valuers.
Last Summer Kian, came critically near to the 80-year threshold with the lease on his studio flat in Pimlico. Having bought his home two decades ago, the unexpired term was of minimal significance. Thankfully, he realised he needed to take action soon on Extending the lease. Kian was able to extend his lease at the eleventh hour in January. Kian and the landlord who owned the flat above subsequently settled on the final figure of £6,000 . If he had missed the deadline, the amount would have escalated by a minimum £1,025.
Dr U Hernández completed a newly refurbished flat in Pimlico in April 1998. We are asked if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord could be to extend the lease by ninety years. Similar premises in Pimlico with 100 year plus lease were valued around £280,000. The average ground rent payable was £45 billed yearly. The lease ran out in 2095. Given that there were 69 years outstanding we approximated the premium to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £12,400 and £14,200 exclusive of professional charges.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Pimlico property is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case was in relation to 2 flats. The unexpired term was 56 years.