Stop! Your Lease Extension in Orpington Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Orpington 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 Orpington 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 Orpington lease extension


Top reasons for lease extension now:

Increase your lease and increase your Orpington property value

It’s an underpublicised certainty that a Orpington residential lease is a deteriorating asset. As the lease term diminishes so does the value of the property. The extent of this is taken for granted in the first few years due to the loss of value being disguised by increases in the Orpington property market.Once your lease gets to 85ish years, you should start thinking about a lease extension. If lease term dips under eighty years, you will end up paying half of the property's 'marriage value' on top of the usual cost of the lease extension to the landlord. The marriage fee is the amount of additional value that a lease extension will add the property Most leasehold owners in Orpington will be able to extend under the legislation; however a lawyer should be able to confirm whether you qualify for an extension. In some cases you may not qualify. There are also strict timetables and procedures to follow once the process has commenced and you will need to be guided by your conveyancer from beginning to end of the process.

An extended lease is almost the same value as a freehold

It is conventional wisdom that a property with over 100 years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to all but the shortest lease, the residence will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years ahead.

Lenders will not loan monies on a short lease

Most high street banks are making their criteria more stringent and a meaningful number now expect flats to have at least 60 if not 70 years left at the end of the mortgage. Considering a number of flats in Orpington 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
Accord Mortgages 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.
Barnsley Building Society 60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
Birmingham Midshires Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Virgin 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion.
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 Orpington lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

Using our service gives you increased control over the value of your Orpington leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in terms of lease length should you wish to sell. The conveyancers that we work with are well versed in the legislation handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.

Orpington Lease Extension Case Summaries:

Cameron, Orpington, South East London,

Cameron was the the leasehold proprietor of a studio flat in Orpington on the market with a lease of just over sixty years outstanding. Cameron on an informal basis approached his landlord being a well known Manchester-based freehold company for a lease extension. The landlord indicated a willingness to extend the lease to 125 years on the basis of a new rent initially set at £200 per annum and doubled every 25 years thereafter. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be due on a lease extension were Cameron to invoke his statutory right. Cameron obtained expert advice and was able to make an informed judgement and deal with the matter and sell the flat.

Orpington case:

Mrs Rachael Murphy completed a garden apartment in Orpington in March 2011. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) premium would be for a ninety year extension to my lease. Identical premises in Orpington with an extended lease were valued about £233,200. The average amount of ground rent was £60 collected yearly. The lease terminated in 2087. Considering the 61 years remaining we approximated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £22,800 and £26,400 not including expenses.

Decision in Bromley

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Orpington property 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 was in relation to 1 flat. The remaining number of years on the lease was 50.57 years.