Owning a flat usually means owning a lease of the property, this is a ‘time-limited’ interest becoming shorter every day. your lease will normally be granted for a set period of time , ordinarily 99 or 125 years, although we have seen longer and shorter terms in South Woodford. Clearly, the term of lease left shortens as time goes by. This may pass by relatively unnoticed when the property has to be disposed of or refinanced. The fewer the years remaining the lower the value of the property and the more it will cost to extend the lease. Qualifying leaseholders in South Woodford have the legal entitlement to extend the lease for a further 90 years under the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act. You should give due deliberation before delaying your South Woodford lease extension. Putting off the cost now only increases the price you will ultimately have to pay for a lease extension
Leasehold properties in South Woodford with in excess of 100 years remaining on the lease are often regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your property. In such circumstances there is often little to be gained by buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and service charges merit it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Barnsley Building Society | 60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term. |
| 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. |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
| 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 better control over the value of your South Woodford leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in relation to the lease length should you wish to sell. The conveyancing solicitors that we work with have a wealth of experience of handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
Off the back of protracted correspondence with the freeholder of her ground floor flat in South Woodford, Zoe initiated the lease extension process just as the lease was coming close to the critical eighty-year deadline. The legal work completed in September 2015. The freeholder’s fees were restricted to about 550 pounds.
Mr Sebastian Gray purchased a one bedroom flat in South Woodford in September 1996. We are asked if we could approximate the premium would be to prolong the lease by ninety years. Similar premises in South Woodford with 100 year plus lease were in the region of £235,200. The average ground rent payable was £45 invoiced annually. The lease finished in 2092. Taking into account 66 years as a residual term we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £12,400 and £14,200 not including professional charges.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a South Woodford residence is 135 Maybank Road in January 2013. The Tribunal determined that the price to be paid by the tenants for the grant of a new lease is £10,592 This case related to 1 flat. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 71.2 years.