Owning a apartment usually means owning a lease of the property, this is a ‘time-limited’ interest becoming shorter every day. The lease will normally be granted for a fixed period of time , ordinarily 99 or 125 years, although we have come across longer and shorter terms in Sidcup. Clearly, the period of lease left reduces as time goes by. This is often overlooked and only becomes a problem when the flat or house has to be disposed of or refinanced. The shorter the lease the less it is worth and the more it will cost to extend the lease. Qualifying leaseholders in Sidcup have the legal entitlement to extend the lease for a further 90 years in accordance with the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act. Do give careful deliberation before putting off your Sidcup lease extension. Holding off the cost now only increases the price you will ultimately have to pay to extend your lease
Leasehold properties in Sidcup with more than one hundred years unexpired 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 circumstances there is often little upside in purchasing the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and estate charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Birmingham Midshires | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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. |
| Yorkshire 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. |
Engaging our service gives you increased control over the value of your Sidcup leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and marketable in relation to the lease length should you want to sell. The conveyancing solicitors that we work with have a in-depth market knowledge handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
Subsequent to protracted correspondence with the landlord of her ground floor apartment in Sidcup, Katherine started the lease extension process just as her lease was nearing the critical eighty-year mark. The legal work was concluded in May 2011. The freeholder’s costs were kept to an absolute minimum.
Mr and Mrs. E Evans bought a garden apartment in Sidcup in October 1999. The question was if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would be for a 90 year lease extension. Identical properties in Sidcup with an extended lease were in the region of £168,800. The average amount of ground rent was £60 collected quarterly. The lease elapsed on 17 September 2080. Given that there were 55 years remaining we calculated the compensation to the landlord to extend the lease to be between £31,400 and £36,200 plus fees.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Sidcup property is 103a Footscray Road in January 2014. The tribunal determines that the premium payable for the extended lease should be £34,500 according to the expert witness valuation calculation This case was in relation to 1 flat.