Stop! Your Lease Extension in Chipping Campden Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Chipping Campden are unaware that their original lawyer had a duty to warn them about future mortgageability and saleability issues. Before you pay thousands to your freeholder, let us audit your purchase history. You might have a claim that pays for your lease extension in full

If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Chipping Campden 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 Chipping Campden lease extension


Main reasons to start your Chipping Campden lease extension today:

Increase your lease and increase your Chipping Campden property value

It’s an underpublicised certainty that a Chipping Campden residential lease is a deteriorating asset. The lease value reduces in proportion to its lease length. The extent of this is not fully appreciated in the first few years due to the depreciation being disguised by increases in the Chipping Campden property market.Once your lease gets to 85ish years, you should start considering a lease extension. If lease term dips below eighty years, you will end up paying 50% of the property's 'marriage value' on top of the usual cost of the lease extension to the landlord. The marriage fee is the amount of additional value that a lease extension will add the property The majority of flat owners in Chipping Campden will be able to extend under the legislation; however a conveyancing solicitor should be able to confirm whether you are eligibility. In some situations you may not be entitled. There are also strict timetables and procedures to be adhered to once the process is instigated and you will need to be guided by your conveyancing solicitor throughout the process.

An extended lease is almost the same value as a freehold

It is conventional wisdom that a property with in excess of one hundred years remaining is worth approximately the same as a freehold. Where an further 90 years added to all but the shortest lease, the residence will be worth the same as a freehold for many years in the future.

Lending institutions will not finance a property on a short lease

The trend since over the last decade has been for banks to tighten lending requirements across the board - this has extended to the property over which the home loan is to be charged. This has meant the unexpired lease term required by banks has increased. Historically mortgage companies were content with twenty years plus the term of the loan - routinely 50 year leases but those requirements have been chipped away by the requirement for longer and longer leases - many use a minimum term of 75 years as standard.

Lender Requirement
Barclays plc Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage are not acceptable.

Leases with fewer than 70 years should only be referred to the issuing office where the following scenario applies, as discretion may be applied subject to bank approval:

• Property is located in any of the following prestigious developments: Cadogan, Crown, Grosvenor, Howard de Walden, Portman or Wellcome Trust Estates in Central London AND
• The value of the property subject to the short remaining term is £500,000 or more AND
• The loan to value does not exceed 90% for purchases, 90% like for like re-mortgages, 80% for re-mortgages with any element of capital raising and 80% for existing Barclays mortgage borrowers applying for additional borrowing;
Barnsley Building Society 60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
National Westminster Bank Mortgage term plus 30 years.

For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 75 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.
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 you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to Issuing Office.

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.
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

Get in touch with one of our Chipping Campden lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

Engaging our service will provide you increased control over the value of your Chipping Campden leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in terms of lease length should you wish to sell. The conveyancing solicitors that we work with are well versed in the legislation handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.

Chipping Campden Lease Extension Example Cases:

Nicole, Chipping Campden, Gloucestershire,

Off the back of lengthy discussions with the freeholder of her one bedroom apartment in Chipping Campden, Nicole commenced the lease extension process as the 80 year mark was swiftly advancing. The transaction was finalised in July 2013. The landlord’s costs were restricted to under six hundred GBP.

Chipping Campden case:

In 2011 we were called by Dr O Allen who, having purchased a studio apartment in Chipping Campden in July 2009. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) premium would be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Similar premises in Chipping Campden with an extended lease were worth £256,600. The average ground rent payable was £60 invoiced annually. The lease ended in 2078. Taking into account 52 years as a residual term we calculated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be between £39,000 and £45,000 exclusive of costs.

Chipping Campden case:

In 2014 we were approached by Mr Jasper Khan who, having completed a one bedroom apartment in Chipping Campden in May 2011. The question was if we could approximate the price could be to extend the lease by an additional years. Comparable premises in Chipping Campden with a long lease were in the region of £218,000. The average ground rent payable was £45 invoiced monthly. The lease terminated on 25 May 2089. Considering the 63 years remaining we calculated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be within £17,100 and £19,800 not including professional charges.