With a residential leasehold property in St Mary Cray, you are in fact renting it for a certain period of time. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners become complacent as this seems like a lengthy period of time, you should think about a lease extension sooner rather than later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease gets disproportionately greater particularly once there are less than 80 years remaining. Residents in St Mary Cray with a lease nearing 81 years left should seriously consider extending it sooner as opposed to later. Once the lease term has less than 80 years remaining, under the relevant legislation the freeholder is entitled to calculate and charge a greater premium, based on a technical calculation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is due.
It is conventional wisdom that a property with over 100 years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an further 90 years added to all but the shortest lease, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years in the future.
| 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. |
| Leeds Building Society | 85 years remaining from the start of the mortgage. |
| Santander | You must report the unexpired lease term to us and await our instructions if: 1. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is between 55 and 82 years, but the actual unexpired term differs by more than one year (whether longer or shorter); or 2. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is more than 82 years but the actual unexpired term is less than 82 years; or 3. no valuation report is provided However, we will not accept a lease where on expiry of the mortgage: (i) less than 50 years remain and all or part of the loan is repaid on an interest-only basis: or (ii) less than 30 years remain and the loan is repaid on a capital and interest basis We will accept a lease that has been extended under the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act 1993 provided statutory compensation would be available to the leaseholder. |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
The conveyancers that we work with procure St Mary Cray 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 lawyer we work with provide it.
Teddy was the the leasehold owner of a conversion flat in St Mary Cray being sold with a lease of just over 61 years outstanding. Teddy informally contacted his landlord being a well known Bristol-based freehold company and enquired on a premium to extend the lease. The landlord was prepared to agree an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years subject to a new rent to start with set at £200 per annum and increase every 25 years thereafter. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be due on a lease extension were Teddy to exercise his statutory right. Teddy procured expert legal guidance and secured satisfactory deal without going to tribunal and ending up with a market value flat.
Ms Y Leroy was assigned a lease of a studio apartment in St Mary Cray in March 2011. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) compensation to the landlord could be to prolong the lease by ninety years. Comparative residencies in St Mary Cray with an extended lease were valued about £200,800. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £65 invoiced quarterly. The lease termination date was in 2086. Given that there were 60 years unexpired we estimated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be within £20,900 and £24,200 plus fees.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a St Mary Cray residence 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 related to 1 flat. The unexpired term was 50.57 years.