Stop! Your Lease Extension in Keston Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Keston 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 Keston 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 Keston lease extension


Top reasons for lease extension now:

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

When it comes to long leasehold premises in Keston, you are actually buying a right to reside in a property for a set period of time. 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 should think about 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 particularly when there are fewer than eighty years left. Residents in Keston with a lease approaching 81 years unexpired should seriously think of extending it as soon as possible. When the lease term has less than eighty years left, under the relevant statute the landlord can calculate and levy a greater premium, assessed on a technical multiplication, known as “marriage value” which is due.

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

Leasehold premises in Keston with more than 100 years remaining on the lease are sometimes referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your home. In such situations there is often little upside in purchasing the freehold unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges merit it.

Lending institutions may not loan monies with a short lease

Banks and building societies are tightening their criteria and many now want flats to have a minimum of 60 if not 70 years left at the expiry of the mortgage. As plenty of flats in Keston were created in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s this means many now require lease extensions if they if they are to be mortgageable.

Lender Requirement
Bank of Scotland 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 75 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.
TSB Minimum of 70 years at mortgage commencement, with 30 years remaining at mortgage redemption.
Royal Bank of Scotland Mortgage term plus 30 years.
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 Keston lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

Irrespective of whether you are a tenant or a landlord in Keston,the lease extension solicitors that we work with will always be prepared to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their in-depth market knowledge and the close ties they enjoy with Keston valuers.

Keston Lease Extension Case Studies:

Rhiannon, Keston, Kent,

Trailing protracted negotiations with the landlord of her studio apartment in Keston, Rhiannon started the lease extension process as the 80 year threshold was fast coming. The lease extension completed in August 2009. The freeholder’s charges were kept to an absolute minimum.

Keston case:

Last Winter we were e-mailed by Mrs Georgia Brooks , who moved into a basement flat in Keston in June 2001. The dilemma was if we could estimate the price could be for a ninety year lease extension. Similar residencies in Keston with a long lease were in the region of £265,200. The average ground rent payable was £65 collected yearly. The lease finished in 2092. Given that there were 66 years unexpired we calculated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £15,200 and £17,600 exclusive of professional charges.

Decision in Bromley

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Keston flat is 1 Southlands Court Southlands Road in September 2013. The Leasehold Valuation Tribunal determined that the premium to be paid by the tenant on the grant of a new lease, in accordance with section 56 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 was £30,541 This case affected 1 flat. The unexpired lease term was 50.57 years.