For those whose Strawberry Hill property is held on a long lease, our message is clear – if you do nothing, the property will eventually revert to the freeholder, leaving you empty-handed. The shorter the lease the less it is worth and the more it will cost to extend the lease.
Leasehold properties in Strawberry Hill with over 100 years unexpired on the lease are often regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your property. In such situations there is often little to be gained by buying the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges warrant it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | 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 75 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage. |
| Skipton Building Society | 85 years from the date of completion of the mortgage For Buy to Let cases: - lettings must not breach any of the lessee’s covenants; and - consent of the lessor to lettings must be obtained if necessary |
| 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. |
Engaging our service will provide you enhanced control over the value of your Strawberry Hill leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and marketable in terms of lease length should you decide to sell. The conveyancers that we work with have a wealth of experience of handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
In 2014 Toby, started to get close to the eighty-year threshold with the lease on his purpose- built apartment in Strawberry Hill. In buying his home two decades ago, the unexpired term was of minimal interest. Luckily, it dawned on him that he needed to take action soon on Extending the lease. Toby was able to extend his lease at the eleventh hour last September. Toby and the landlord who owned the flat above ultimately settled on the final figure of £5,000 . If he had missed the deadline, the figure would have escalated by at least £925.
Last Christmas we were approach by Mr and Mrs. I Murphy , who was assigned a lease of a one bedroom apartment in Strawberry Hill in October 2006. The dilemma was if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would likely be to prolong the lease by a further 90 years. Comparable premises in Strawberry Hill with 100 year plus lease were worth £300,000. The average amount of ground rent was £50 collected monthly. The lease expired in 2102. Given that there were 76 years as a residual term we approximated the compensation to the freeholder for the lease extension to be between £8,600 and £9,800 not including fees.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a Strawberry Hill premises is Ground Floor Flat 91 Bath Road in May 2009. in a case where the freeholder could not be traced, the Brentford County Court ordered that the Lease be surrendered in return for the grant of a new lease of the Premises at a premium determined by the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal. The tribunal concluded that the price payable by the Applicant for the new lease of the premises be £15,900 This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired term as at the valuation date was 60.45 years.