Stop! Your Lease Extension in Park Royal Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in Park Royal 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 Park Royal 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 start your Park Royal lease extension


Main reasons to commence your Park Royal lease extension today:

Increase your lease and increase your Park Royal property value

Owning a apartment usually means owning a lease of the property, which has a finite term of years. your lease will usually be granted for a prescribed period of time , ordinarily 99 or 125 years, although we have seen longer and shorter terms in Park Royal. Inevitably, the period of lease left reduces as time goes by. This may pass by relatively unnoticed when the residence has to be disposed of or refinanced. The shorter the lease the lower the value of the property and the more expensive it will be to obtain a lease extension. Eligible leaseholders in Park Royal have the right to extend the lease for an additional 90 years under Leasehold Reform legislation. You should give due consideration before delaying your Park Royal lease extension. Putting off the cost now only increases the price you will eventually incur for a lease extension

Park Royal property with a lease extension has roughly the same value as a freehold

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

Banks and Building Societies may not loan monies on a short lease

Most banks and building societies require a lengthy amount of time remaining on a leasehold residence before they will consider lending on it. Even if you don't require a mortgage, you should be mindful that it is probable that someone intending to purchase your property in the future might well do, so where they are unable to obtain a mortgage, then the market price of the property could be adversely impacted. Since 2008 most mortgage lenders have increased the required minimum lease length that they are prepared to lend on

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.
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.
Nationwide Building Society

- Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years. 
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).

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
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years. 

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 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- 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 is 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 55 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% 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 (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- 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 (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- 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 charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis

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% 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 a proposed Lease Extension does not meet these requirements, however you feel that this is in the best interest for our mutual client, please refer all details to the Issuing Office for us to consider. 

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.

Get in touch with one of our Park Royal lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors

Lease extensions in Park Royal can be a difficult process. We recommend you procure guidance from a conveyancing solicitor and surveyor with experience in this area.

We provide you with an expert from a selection of lease extension solicitors, which ensures a targeted and efficient service as you have a dedicated port of call with an individual lawyer. Our lease extension solicitors have a wealth of experience procuring Park Royal lease extensions and further afield, as well as any potential issues which may arise as well as problems with the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.

Park Royal Lease Extension Case Studies:

Amelia, Park Royal, North West London,

Following lengthy discussions with the freeholder of her ground floor apartment in Park Royal, Amelia initiated the lease extension process just as the lease was approaching the all-important eighty-year deadline. The lease extension completed in October 2013. The freeholder’s costs were kept to an absolute minimum.

Park Royal case:

Last Spring we were e-mailed by Mr Elijah Carter , who took over the lease of a basement flat in Park Royal in July 1998. The dilemma was if we could estimate the premium would be to extend the lease by an additional years. Comparative homes in Park Royal with a long lease were in the region of £171,800. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £55 invoiced monthly. The lease lapsed in 2076. Considering the 50 years outstanding we calculated the premium to the landlord to extend the lease to be within £32,300 and £37,400 exclusive of legals.

Decision in Ealing

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a Park Royal property is 99 Connell Crescent in May 2013. the Tribunal held that the relevant sum for the purposes of the lease extension should be £72,566 to be paid by the leaseholder This case was in relation to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 28.42 years.