Owning a flat usually means owning a lease of the property, this is a ‘time-limited’ interest becoming shorter every day. This lease will ordinarily be granted for a set period of time , ordinarily 99 or 125 years, although we have witnessed longer and shorter terms in Lambeth. Clearly, the period of lease left shortens as time goes by. This is often overlooked and only becomes a problem when the flat or house has to be disposed of or re-mortgaged. The fewer the years remaining the lower the value of the property and the more expensive it will be to extend the lease. Qualifying leaseholders in Lambeth have the right to extend the lease for a further ninety years in accordance with Leasehold Reform legislation. Do give due attention before putting off your Lambeth lease extension. Holding off the cost now likely increases the price you will ultimately incur to extend your lease
It is conventional wisdom that a property with in excess of 100 years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to any lease with more than 35 years left, the premises will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years ahead.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Barnsley Building Society | 60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term. |
| 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. |
| Godiva Mortgages | 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. |
| Lloyds TSB Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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 |
Irrespective of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in Lambeth,the lease extension lawyers 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 Lambeth valuers.
After lengthy negotiations with the landlord of her one bedroom apartment in Lambeth, Zoe commenced the lease extension process as the eighty year mark was swiftly approaching. The transaction completed in February 2005. The freeholder’s costs were kept to an absolute minimum.
Mrs Paige Gunderson completed a garden flat in Lambeth in October 2007. We are asked if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord could be for a ninety year lease extension. Comparative premises in Lambeth with a long lease were valued around £250,400. The average amount of ground rent was £65 collected yearly. The lease end date was on 26 January 2089. Given that there were 64 years as a residual term we approximated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £19,000 and £22,000 not including costs.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Lambeth premises is Flats 12A & 19, Evelyn Mansions Carlisle Place in June 2009. The Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the new lease of Flat 12A is £168,824, For the other flat the price was set at £169,110 This case related to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 56 years.