Aberdare Lease Extension - Free Consultation

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Main reasons to commence your Aberdare lease extension


Main reasons to commence your Aberdare lease extension today:

A Aberdare lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

Aberdare leases on residential deteriorating in value. Where your lease has about ninety years remaining, you should start thinking about a lease extension. If lease term dips under 80 years, you will then be required to pay half of the property's 'marriage value' on top of the usual cost of the lease extension to your landlord. Marriage value is the amount of extra value that a lease extension will add to the property. Flat owners in Aberdare will usually qualify for a lease extension; however It would be wise to check with a conveyancing solicitor to check your eligibility. In some situations you may not qualify. There are also strict deadlines and formalities to follow once the process is triggered so it’s best to be guided by a conveyancing solicitor during the process.

Aberdare property with a lease extension has roughly the same value as a freehold

It is conventional wisdom that a residential leasehold with in excess of one hundred years remaining is worth approximately the equivalent as a freehold. Where an further 90 years added to any lease with more than 35 years remaining, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years in the future.

Mortgage lenders may not lend with a short lease

Banks and Building Societies have set criteria when loaning funds secured on leasehold homes. Some will simply refrain from lending at all once the remaining lease term falls below a certain unexpired lease term. Many Mortgage lenders will not consider property with a remaining term of less than 75 years as acceptable security. In addition to impacting your ability to sell, it is also relevant where you are seeking to refinance your Aberdare home.

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.
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.
Nationwide Building Society - Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years.
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).

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
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years.

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 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- 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 is 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 55 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% 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 (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- 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 (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- 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 charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis

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% 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 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 Aberdare lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

The conveyancing solicitors that we work with procure Aberdare 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 conveyancer we work with provide it.

Aberdare Lease Extension Example Cases:

Kirsty, Aberdare, Abercynon,

Off the back of protracted correspondence with the freeholder of her garden flat in Aberdare, Kirsty started the lease extension process as the 80 year mark was swiftly coming. The transaction completed in July 2005. The freeholder’s fees were restricted to slightly above 500 pounds.

Aberdare case:

Mrs A Brooks moved into a garden flat in Aberdare in March 2009. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) price would be for a 90 year lease extension. Identical residencies in Aberdare with a long lease were in the region of £264,000. The average ground rent payable was £60 invoiced monthly. The lease ran out on 1 August 2078. Considering the 53 years unexpired we approximated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be within £37,100 and £42,800 not including fees.

Aberdare case:

Mr and Mrs. W Parker moved into a studio apartment in Aberdare in February 2007. The dilemma was if we could estimate the premium would likely be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Comparable flats in Aberdare with a long lease were worth £225,400. The average amount of ground rent was £45 billed quarterly. The lease ended in 2089. Considering the 64 years unexpired we estimated the premium to the landlord to extend the lease to be within £15,200 and £17,600 plus professional charges.