With a domestic leasehold premises in Chinatown, you are actually purchasing a right to live in a property for a set period of time. These days flat leases are usually granted for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners become complacent as this seems like a lengthy period of time, you may 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 becomes disproportionately greater particularly once there are fewer than eighty years left. Leasehold owners in Chinatown with a lease nearing 81 years unexpired should seriously think of extending it sooner as opposed to later. When a lease has below 80 years remaining, under the current statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and levy a larger amount, based on a technical multiplication, known as “marriage value” which is due.
Leasehold premises in Chinatown with more than 100 years unexpired 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 to be gained by purchasing the freehold unless savings on ground rent and maintenance 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. |
| Birmingham Midshires | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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. |
| Halifax | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Chinatown,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 Chinatown valuers.
Subsequent to protracted negotiations with the freeholder of her purpose-built apartment in Chinatown, Gemma started the lease extension process as the eighty year threshold was fast coming. The legal work completed in June 2008. The landlord’s charges were restricted to under 500 GBP.
Last Spring we were called by Mr and Mrs. W Cook , who acquired a purpose-built flat in Chinatown in May 2009. The question was if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord would likely be to extend the lease by an additional years. Similar properties in Chinatown with an extended lease were in the region of £275,000. The average ground rent payable was £65 billed yearly. The lease elapsed on 17 August 2094. Given that there were 68 years left we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £12,400 and £14,200 plus legals.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement case for a Chinatown premises is 36 New Wanstead in August 2010. The Tribunal arrived at a valuation of the premium for the freehold of £22,359. This case affected 2 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 73.92 years.