Stop! Your Lease Extension in Claverley Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Claverley 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 Claverley 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.

Main reasons to commence your Claverley lease extension


Why you should start your Claverley lease extension today:

A Claverley lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

When it comes to domestic leasehold property in Claverley, you are actually buying an entitlement to reside in a property for a set period of time. These days flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners become complacent as this seems like a long period of time, you may consider a lease extension sooner rather than later. The general rule is that the shorter the lease is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly notably once there are fewer than eighty years left. Anyone in Claverley with a lease approaching 81 years left should seriously think of extending it sooner as opposed to later. Once the lease term has fewer than eighty years remaining, under the current statute the landlord is entitled to calculate and demand a greater amount, based 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 conventional wisdom that a property with over one hundred years unexpired lease term is worth roughly the equivalent as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to any lease with more than 35 years remaining, the residence will be equivalent in value to a freehold for decades to come.

Lending institutions may decide not to lend with a short lease

Most high street banks are making their criteria more stringent and many now want flats to have at least sixty if not seventy years left at the end of the mortgage. Considering many flats in Claverley were created in the fifties, sixties and seventies this means many now need to be extended if they wish to obtain a mortgage.

Lender Requirement
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.
Halifax Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
National Westminster Bank Mortgage term plus 30 years.

For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 30 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.
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.

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

Irrespective of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Claverley,the lease extension lawyers that we work with will always be happy to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their experience and the close ties they enjoy with Claverley valuers.

Claverley Lease Extension Example Cases:

Adam, Claverley, Shropshire,

Adam was the the leasehold proprietor of a high value apartment in Claverley being marketed with a lease of a little over sixty years remaining. Adam informally spoke with his freeholder a well known Bristol-based freehold company for a lease extension. The freeholder was prepared to agree an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years subject to a rise in the rent to £200 yearly. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be payable on a lease extension were Adam to exercise his statutory right. Adam obtained expert advice and secured an acceptable resolution informally and readily saleable.

Claverley case:

Mr Charlie Sánchez purchased a basement flat in Claverley in June 2008. We are asked if we could approximate the premium would be to prolong the lease by 90 years. Comparative properties in Claverley with an extended lease were valued about £250,400. The average amount of ground rent was £65 invoiced monthly. The lease expiry date was in 2090. Taking into account 64 years as a residual term we approximated the compensation to the freeholder for the lease extension to be between £19,000 and £22,000 exclusive of fees.

Claverley case:

Dr Reuben Reed purchased a purpose-built flat in Claverley in June 2005. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) price could be to prolong the lease by a further 90 years. Identical properties in Claverley with 100 year plus lease were valued about £189,000. The average ground rent payable was £55 collected every twelve months. The lease lapsed in 2079. Taking into account 53 years unexpired we calculated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be between £28,500 and £33,000 plus legals.