Owning a apartment usually means owning a lease of the property, which has a set term of years. your lease will ordinarily be granted for a fixed period of time , usually 99 or 125 years, although we have seen longer and shorter terms in Lichfield. Clearly, the term of lease left shortens as time goes by. This is often overlooked and only becomes a problem when the residence has to be disposed of or refinanced. The fewer the years remaining the less it is worth and the more expensive it will be to extend the lease. Qualifying long lease owners in Lichfield have the legal entitlement to extend the lease for a further 90 years in accordance with Leasehold Reform legislation. Please give careful deliberation before putting off your Lichfield lease extension. Putting off that expense now likely increases the price you will eventually have to pay to extend your lease
Leasehold premises in Lichfield with more than one hundred years unexpired on the lease are sometimes regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your premises. In such circumstances there is often little to be gained by buying the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and service charges merit it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| 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. |
| Halifax | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Leeds Building Society | 85 years remaining from the start 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 |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
The conveyancing solicitors that we work with undertake Lichfield lease extensions and help protect your position. A lease extension can be arranged to be completed to coincide with a change of ownership so the costs of the lease extension are paid for using part of the sale proceeds. You really do need expert legal advice in this difficult and technical area of law. The conveyancing solicitor we work with provide it.
Following unsuccessful negotiations with the landlord of her first floor apartment in Lichfield, Abigail initiated the lease extension process as the eighty year mark was fast advancing. The transaction completed in April 2015. The freeholder’s fees were kept to an absolute minimum.
Last Autumn we were called by Ms F Vincent , who bought a garden flat in Lichfield in October 2010. The dilemma was if we could estimate the premium would be for a ninety year extension to my lease. Identical properties in Lichfield with an extended lease were in the region of £248,000. The average ground rent payable was £65 invoiced monthly. The lease concluded in 2089. Given that there were 63 years unexpired we calculated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £20,900 and £24,200 plus fees.
Mr and Mrs. Y Roux completed a first floor flat in Lichfield in October 1996. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) price could be to extend the lease by a further 90 years. Similar residencies in Lichfield with a long lease were worth £181,600. The average amount of ground rent was £55 collected annually. The lease terminated on 12 August 2078. Given that there were 52 years outstanding we approximated the premium to the freeholder to extend the lease to be within £30,400 and £35,200 not including professional charges.