With a residential leasehold property in Bexleyheath, you are in fact renting it for a certain amount of time. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a lengthy period of time, you should think about a lease extension sooner as opposed to later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly especially when there are less than 80 years remaining. Leasehold owners in Bexleyheath with a lease approaching 81 years remaining should seriously think of extending it as soon as possible. Once a lease has under 80 years outstanding, under the relevant statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and levy a larger amount, based on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is payable.
Leasehold premises in Bexleyheath with in excess of 100 years outstanding on the lease are often referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease is worth the same as a freehold interest in your premises. In such situations there is often little upside in buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and estate charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| Bank of Scotland | 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. |
| Skipton Building Society | 85 years from the date of completion of the mortgage For Buy to Let cases: - lettings must not breach any of the lessee’s covenants; and - consent of the lessor to lettings must be obtained if necessary |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
The conveyancing solicitors that we work with handle Bexleyheath 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 conveyancing solicitor we work with provide it.
Eli owned a studio apartment in Bexleyheath on the market with a lease of a little over 59 years unexpired. Eli informally spoke with his freeholder being a well known local-based freehold company and enquired on a premium to extend the lease. The freeholder was prepared to give an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years on the basis of an increased rent to £100 annually. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be due on a lease extension were Eli to exercise his statutory right. Eli obtained expert advice and was able to make a more informed judgement and deal with the matter and sell the property.
Last Christmas we were approach by Mr and Mrs. A Bailey , who took over the lease of a purpose-built apartment in Bexleyheath in May 2003. The dilemma was if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord could be to extend the lease by 90 years. Identical premises in Bexleyheath with a long lease were in the region of £242,600. The average ground rent payable was £45 billed per annum. The lease finished on 15 June 2093. Having 67 years left we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £11,400 and £13,200 exclusive of fees.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Bexleyheath property is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case related to 13 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 76 years.