Stop! Your Lease Extension in St Leonard Shoreditch Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in St Leonard Shoreditch 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 St Leonard Shoreditch 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 St Leonard Shoreditch lease extension


Why you should commence your St Leonard Shoreditch lease extension today:

A St Leonard Shoreditch lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

With a residential leasehold premises in St Leonard Shoreditch, you effectively rent it for a certain period of time. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a lengthy period of time, you should think about a lease extension sooner as opposed to later. The general rule is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease becomes disproportionately more expensive particularly when there are less than eighty years remaining. Residents in St Leonard Shoreditch with a lease approaching 81 years unexpired should seriously consider extending it as soon as possible. Once a lease has fewer than eighty years remaining, under the current statute the freeholder can calculate and demand a greater amount, based on a technical multiplication, known as “marriage value” which is payable.

An extended lease has roughly the same value as a freehold

It is generally considered 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 any lease with more than 35 years unexpired, the residence will be equivalent in value to a freehold for decades to come.

Banks and Building Societies may decide not to finance a property with a short lease

Banks and building societies are really clamping down as regards to properties in St Leonard Shoreditch with short leases. For instance you may find that their lending requirements are stricter and that they adjust interest rates depending on the unexpired lease term. Some may even refrain from lending completely, so if you wanted to sell, your remaining options would be to find a cash buyer, or try your luck at auction thus restricting your market.

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.
Coventry Building Society 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.
National Westminster Bank Mortgage term plus 30 years.

For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 75 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.
The Mortgage Works Minimum unexpired lease term is 70 years with 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term.
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

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 70 years
- 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 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 70 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 1.0% 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
- 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
- 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 reviewed and altered on any review basis or methodology

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 1.0% 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 you become aware that it does not meet these requirements, please refer to the Issuing Office

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.

Why use us for your lease extension in St Leonard Shoreditch?

The lawyers that we work with undertake St Leonard Shoreditch 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.

St Leonard Shoreditch Lease Extension Example Cases:

David, St Leonard Shoreditch, London,

David owned a studio apartment in St Leonard Shoreditch being sold with a lease of a little over sixty years outstanding. David on an informal basis spoke with his freeholder a well known Bristol-based freehold company and enquired on a premium to extend the lease. The freeholder was prepared to agree an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years on the basis of a rise in the rent to £50 annually. No ground rent would be due on a lease extension were David to exercise his statutory right. David obtained expert advice and secured an acceptable resolution without going to tribunal and ending up with a market value flat.

St Leonard Shoreditch case:

Last Autumn we were e-mailed by Mr and Mrs. I Bonnet , who moved into a garden flat in St Leonard Shoreditch in November 2011. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) compensation to the landlord would be to extend the lease by a further 90 years. Comparative residencies in St Leonard Shoreditch with an extended lease were in the region of £250,000. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £50 invoiced monthly. The lease ran out in 2094. Having 68 years left we calculated the premium to the landlord to extend the lease to be between £10,500 and £12,000 exclusive of fees.

Decision in Hackney

An example of a Lease Extension decision for a St Leonard Shoreditch residence is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case affected 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 72.39 years.