If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in St James 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 St James lease extension

Top reasons for lease extension now:

A St James lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

On the balance of probabilities where you own a flat in St James you actually own a long leasehold interest over your property

An extended lease has roughly the same value as a freehold

It is generally accepted that a property with in excess of one hundred years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an further 90 years added to all but the shortest lease, the premises will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years ahead.

Lending institutions may not grant a mortgage with a short lease

Lenders are really clamping down as regards to properties in St James with short leases. For instance you might discover that their lending requirements are stricter and that they adjust interest rates depending on how many years are left on the lease. Some may even refuse to lend completely, so if you needed to sell, your remaining options would be to find a cash purchaser, or hope for the best at auction thus narrowing your market.

Lender	Requirement
Bank of Scotland	Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Barnsley Building Society	60 years from the date of the mortgage application subject to 35 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
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.
National Westminster Bank	Mortgage term plus 30 years. For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 30 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.

Why use us for your lease extension in St James?

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

St James Lease Extension Example Cases:

Leo, St James, London,

Leo owned a studio apartment in St James being sold with a lease of just over 72 years unexpired. Leo informally contacted 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 subject to a rise in the rent to £100 per annum. No ground rent would be due on a lease extension were Leo to invoke his statutory right. Leo obtained expert legal guidance and secured satisfactory resolution without resorting to tribunal and ending up with a market value flat.

St James case:

In 2012 we were contacted by Mr and Mrs. M Roux who, having took over the lease of a studio apartment in St James in August 2009. We are asked if we could approximate the premium would likely be to prolong the lease by 90 years. Comparable homes in St James with a long lease were worth £252,800. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £65 invoiced annually. The lease terminated on 6 February 2091. Given that there were 65 years as a residual term we approximated the premium to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £17,100 and £19,800 not including expenses.

Decision in Westminster

An example of a Lease Extension case for a St James residence 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 unexpired term was 56 years.

Stop! Your Lease Extension in St James Could Be FREE