If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Brixton 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.
Why you should start your Brixton lease extension today:
A Brixton lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.
With a domestic leasehold property in Brixton, you are actually buying an entitlement to live 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 long period of time, you may consider a lease extension sooner as opposed to later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the lease is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly notably once there are fewer than eighty years remaining. Residents in Brixton with a lease nearing 81 years left should seriously consider extending it without delay. When the lease term has under 80 years outstanding, under the current Act the freeholder can calculate and levy a larger premium, based on a technical calculation, known as “marriage value” which is payable.
Brixton property with a lease extension has roughly the same value as a freehold
It is conventional wisdom that a residential leasehold with more than one hundred years unexpired lease term is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to all but the shortest lease, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for decades to come.
Lending institutions may not loan monies with a short lease
Banks and building societies differ in their lending criteria. Some draw the line at 75 years remaining on the lease; others may be content with anything with more than seventy years. With less than 60 years, it may be challenging to get a mortgage at all.
| Lender |
Requirement
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| Bank of Scotland |
Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
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| Barnsley Building Society |
60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
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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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Why use us for your lease extension in Brixton?
Irrespective of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Brixton,the lease extension solicitors that we work with will always be happy to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their in-depth market knowledge and the close ties they enjoy with Brixton valuers.
Brixton Lease Extension Case Summaries:
Freddie, Brixton, South London
During the course of the last few months Freddie, came perilously close to the 80-year mark with the lease on his one bedroom apartment in Brixton. Having bought his flat 18 years ago, the unexpired term was of little interest. Thankfully, it dawned on him that he would soon be paying an inflated amount for a lease extension. Freddie was able to extend his lease at the eleventh hour in March. Freddie and the landlord eventually settled on a premium of £6,000 . If the lease had descended to less than 80 years, the sum would have increased by a minimum £1,025.
Brixton case:
In 2013 we were approached by Dr Emily Lefèvre who, having purchased a basement flat in Brixton in March 2010. The dilemma was if we could estimate the price could be for a ninety year lease extension. Similar flats in Brixton with a long lease were in the region of £240,600. The mid-range ground rent payable was £65 collected annually. The lease lapsed in 2088. Considering the 62 years unexpired we estimated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £21,900 and £25,200 plus legals.
Decision in Lambeth
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Brixton property is
66 Southwell Road in March 2012. By Order of Deputy District Judge Stone dated 25 January 2012 a vesting order was made. The determination of the purchase price was referred to the Tribunal who decided that the amount payable for the freehold should be£29,612.00
This case affected 3 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 72.58 years.