Stop! Your Lease Extension in Horbury Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Horbury 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 Horbury 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 Horbury lease extension


Why you should commence your Horbury lease extension today:

A Horbury leasehold property depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

With a residential leasehold property in Horbury, you are actually buying an entitlement to live in a property for a set period of time. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a long period of time, you may think about a lease extension sooner rather than later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease gets disproportionately more expensive especially once there are less than 80 years remaining. Leasehold owners in Horbury with a lease drawing near to 81 years remaining should seriously think of extending it sooner than later. When a lease has fewer than 80 years remaining, under the relevant statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and levy a larger premium, assessed on a technical computation, known as “marriage value” which is due.

Horbury property with a lease extension is almost the same value as a freehold

It is conventional wisdom that a residential leasehold with over one hundred years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to any lease with more than 45 years remaining, the premises will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years in the future.

Lenders may decide not to lend on a short lease

Mortgage companies are tightening their criteria and many now want flats to have a minimum of 60 if not 70 years remaining once the mortgage has expired. As a number of flats in Horbury were built in the fifties, sixties and seventies as a result many now need to be extended if they if they are to be mortgageable.

Lender Requirement
Bank of Scotland Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Birmingham Midshires Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Leeds Building Society 85 years remaining from the start of the mortgage.
The Mortgage Works Minimum unexpired lease term is 70 years with 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
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

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 70 years
- 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 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 70 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 1.0% 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
- 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
- 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 reviewed and altered on any review basis or methodology

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 1.0% 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 the 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.
Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgage term plus 30 years.

Why use us for your lease extension in Horbury?

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

Horbury Lease Extension Example Cases:

Jason, Horbury, West Yorkshire,

Jason was the the leasehold proprietor of a 2 bedroom flat in Horbury being marketed with a lease of a little over sixty years unexpired. Jason informally contacted his freeholder a well known London-based freehold company for a lease extension. The landlord indicated a willingness to grant an extension taking the lease to 125 years subject to an increased rent to £50 annually. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be payable on a lease extension were Jason to invoke his statutory right. Jason procured expert legal guidance and secured satisfactory resolution without going to tribunal and ending up with a market value flat.

Horbury case:

Last Winter we were phoned by Mr and Mrs. M Michel , who purchased a purpose-built apartment in Horbury in June 1996. The dilemma was if we could estimate the premium would likely be to extend the lease by an additional years. Similar flats in Horbury with 100 year plus lease were valued around £275,000. The average ground rent payable was £65 collected quarterly. The lease termination date was in 2094. Having 68 years left we approximated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £13,300 and £15,400 not including costs.

Horbury case:

Dr G Carter owned a basement apartment in Horbury in May 2006. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) premium could be for a 90 year lease extension. Similar residencies in Horbury with 100 year plus lease were in the region of £208,600. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £60 invoiced every twelve months. The lease termination date was in 2083. Taking into account 57 years unexpired we calculated the premium to the freeholder to extend the lease to be within £30,400 and £35,200 not including professional charges.