If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Bacup 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 Bacup property value
With a long leasehold premises in Bacup, you are actually buying an entitlement to reside in a property for a set period of time. 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 may think about a lease extension sooner as opposed to later. The general rule is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease gets disproportionately more expensive notably when there are fewer than eighty years remaining. Residents in Bacup with a lease nearing 81 years left should seriously consider extending it without delay. When a lease has less than 80 years remaining, under the relevant legislation the freeholder can calculate and levy a larger premium, assessed on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is payable.
An extended lease has roughly the same value as a freehold
It is generally considered that a residential leasehold with more than one hundred years remaining is worth approximately the same as a freehold. Where an further ninety years added to any lease with more than 30 years left, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for decades to come.
Lenders will not lend with a short lease
Lenders are making their criteria more stringent and many now expect flats to have a minimum of sixty if not seventy years remaining at the end of the mortgage. As plenty of flats in Bacup were created in the fifties, sixties and seventies this means many now require lease extensions if they if they are to be mortgageable.
| Lender |
Requirement
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|---|
| 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.
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| Birmingham Midshires |
Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
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| 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.
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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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| 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.
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Get in touch with one of our Bacup lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors
Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Bacup,the lease extension experts 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 Bacup valuers.
Bacup Lease Extension Example Cases:
Bethany, Bacup, Lancashire,
Subsequent to unsuccessful correspondence with the freeholder of her studio apartment in Bacup, Bethany commenced the lease extension process as the 80 year mark was rapidly advancing. The lease extension was concluded in July 2015. The freeholder’s charges were kept to an absolute minimum.
Bacup case:
In 2009 we were e-mailed by Mr and Mrs. W Cooper who, having completed a ground floor flat in Bacup in September 1996. We are asked if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would likely be to extend the lease by an additional years. Similar premises in Bacup with 100 year plus lease were in the region of £245,000. The mid-range ground rent payable was £50 collected monthly. The lease finished on 28 April 2094. Taking into account 68 years remaining we estimated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £9,500 and £11,000 not including expenses.
Bacup case:
Last month we were phoned by Mr Ali Green , who
moved into a newly refurbished flat in Bacup in March 2008. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) premium would likely be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Comparative flats in Bacup with a long lease were valued about £285,000. The average ground rent payable was £55 billed quarterly. The lease concluded in 2105. Having 79 years outstanding we approximated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £13,300 and £15,400 plus legals.