With a domestic leasehold premises in Hackbridge, you are actually buying a right to reside in a property for a prescribed time frame. In recent years flat leases are usually granted for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a lengthy period of time, you may consider a lease extension sooner rather than 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 eighty years remaining. Leasehold owners in Hackbridge with a lease drawing near to 81 years unexpired should seriously think of extending it as soon as possible. When the lease term has below eighty years left, under the current statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and demand a greater premium, based on a technical multiplication, known as “marriage value” which is payable.
Leasehold premises in Hackbridge with more than 100 years unexpired on the lease are sometimes 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 buying the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and estate charges merit it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Barclays plc | Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage should be declined (see exception below). Leases with greater than 70 years but fewer than 85 years remaining must be referred to issuing office. 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; |
| 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. |
| Halifax | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Lloyds TSB Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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. |
Retaining our service gives you increased control over the value of your Hackbridge leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in terms of lease length should you decide 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.
Following protracted correspondence with the freeholder of her two bedroom apartment in Hackbridge, Jennifer initiated the lease extension process just as her lease was coming close to the crucial 80-year threshold. The legal work completed in April 2013. The freeholder’s fees were negotiated to a tad over 600 pounds.
Last Christmas we were contacted by Mr and Mrs. T Clark , who purchased a garden flat in Hackbridge in February 2003. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) price would be to extend the lease by ninety years. Identical premises in Hackbridge with a long lease were in the region of £174,200. The average ground rent payable was £55 collected annually. The lease expired in 2076. Considering the 51 years remaining we calculated the compensation to the landlord to extend the lease to be between £31,400 and £36,200 plus costs.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Hackbridge flat is 21 & 23 Carshalton Grove in May 2009. the Tribunal adopted the figures presented as the premiums payable by the Applicant i.e. a total of £20,750. This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 72 years.