If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Almondsbury has dropped toward the 80-year mark, your previous lawyer may be at fault. Our panel of experts specialise in recovering lease extension costs from negligent firms who failed to protect your investment.
Top reasons for lease extension now:
Increase your lease and increase your Almondsbury property value
With a residential leasehold property in Almondsbury, you effectively rent it for a certain period of time. Modern flat leases are usually granted for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners are unconcerned as this seems like a lengthy period of time, you should consider extending the lease sooner as opposed to later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly notably when there are less than 80 years left. Residents in Almondsbury with a lease drawing near to 81 years unexpired should seriously think of extending it without delay. When a lease has below 80 years remaining, under the current Act the freeholder can calculate and levy a larger premium, based on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is payable.
An extended lease is almost the same value as a freehold
It is generally accepted that a property with in excess of 100 years unexpired lease term is worth approximately the equivalent as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to any lease with more than 35 years unexpired, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for decades to come.
Banks and Building Societies will not grant a mortgage with a short lease
The definition of a short lease varies by mortgage company, yet mortgage lenders start to get nervous at around 75 years. This will be problematic as and when you come to dispose of or remortgage your flat as it will be effectively unmortgageable. Even though you may have no imminent intention to sell but when you do your buyer must wait a couple of years before being able to exercise the right to a an extension to the lease.
| Lender |
Requirement
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| Bank of Scotland |
Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
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| Godiva Mortgages |
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.
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| National Westminster Bank |
Mortgage term plus 30 years.
For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 30 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.
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| 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 a proposed Lease Extension does not meet these requirements, however you feel that this is in the best interest for our mutual client, please refer all details to the Issuing Office for us to consider.
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.
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| Santander |
If the property is leasehold, the remaining unexpired lease term at the end of the new mortgage term must be at least 50 years where any part of the mortgage is on Interest Only and 30 years if all loan parts are on Capital Repayment and Interest. You must report the unexpired lease term to us and await our instructions if:
1. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is between 55 and 82 years, but the actual unexpired term differs by more than one year (whether longer or shorter); or
2. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is more than 82 years but the actual unexpired term is less than 82 years; or
3. no valuation report is provided.
We will accept a lease that has been extended under the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act 1993 provided statutory compensation would be available to the leaseholder.
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Get in touch with one of our Almondsbury lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors
Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a landlord in Almondsbury,the lease extension lawyers that we work with will always be willing to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their experience and the close ties they enjoy with Almondsbury valuers.
Almondsbury Lease Extension Case Summaries:
Ella, Almondsbury, Gloucestershire,
Trailing protracted negotiations with the freeholder of her purpose-built flat in Almondsbury, Ella initiated the lease extension process as the eighty year threshold was fast approaching. The lease extension completed in September 2014. The landlord’s charges were negotiated to under 450 pounds.
Almondsbury case:
In 2012 we were approached by Mr and Mrs. H Smith who, having moved into a newly refurbished apartment in Almondsbury in January 2008. The question was if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord could be for a ninety year lease extension. Identical properties in Almondsbury with a long lease were valued about £200,800. The average amount of ground rent was £65 collected annually. The lease concluded on 12 March 2086. Given that there were 60 years remaining we estimated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £20,900 and £24,200 not including fees.
Almondsbury case:
Last month we were called by Mrs Isabel Watson , who
took over the lease of a recently refurbished flat in Almondsbury in January 2007. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) premium would be to extend the lease by a further 90 years. Similar premises in Almondsbury with an extended lease were in the region of £255,000. The average ground rent payable was £50 billed per annum. The lease ran out on 13 August 2097. Given that there were 71 years as a residual term we calculated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be within £9,500 and £11,000 exclusive of professional charges.