When it comes to residential leasehold premises in Swanley, you are actually buying an entitlement to live in a property for a prescribed time frame. In recent years flat leases are usually granted for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a long period of time, you should think about a lease extension sooner rather than later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the lease is the cost of extending the lease becomes disproportionately more expensive especially when there are less than 80 years left. Leasehold owners in Swanley with a lease approaching 81 years remaining should seriously think of extending it sooner than later. Once the lease term has below eighty years remaining, under the current legislation the landlord is entitled to calculate and charge a greater amount, based on a technical computation, known as “marriage value” which is payable.
Leasehold premises in Swanley with more than one hundred 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 home. In such situations there is often little upside in buying the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Birmingham Midshires | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| TSB | Minimum of 70 years at mortgage commencement, with 30 years remaining at mortgage redemption. |
The lawyers that we work with procure Swanley 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 conveyancer we work with provide it.
Adam owned a studio flat in Swanley on the market with a lease of fraction over 59 years left. Adam informally approached his landlord a well known local-based freehold company and enquired on a premium to extend the lease. The freeholder was keen to agree an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years subject to a new rent at the outset set at £200 per annum and doubled every 25 years thereafter. No ground rent would be due on a lease extension were Adam to invoke his statutory right. Adam obtained expert advice and was able to make a more informed judgement and deal with the matter and ending up with a market value flat.
Last Christmas we were called by Mr and Mrs. T Smith , who took over the lease of a recently refurbished apartment in Swanley in November 2005. We are asked if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) premium could be to prolong the lease by 90 years. Comparative flats in Swanley with a long lease were worth £193,400. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £65 invoiced monthly. The lease expired on 23 August 2085. Having 59 years outstanding we calculated the premium to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £21,900 and £25,200 not including legals.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a Swanley residence is Various @ Colombus Square in January 2012. the Tribunal calculated the premiums to be paid for new leases for each of the flats in Mariners Walk to be £3822 and the premium to be paid for the new lease of 2 Knights Court to be £4439. This case related to 13 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 76 years.