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Main reasons to start your Wennington lease extension


Why you should start your Wennington lease extension today:

A Wennington lease depreciates with the years remaining on the lease.

Owning a apartment usually means owning a lease of the property, this is a ‘time-limited’ interest becoming shorter every day. your lease will ordinarily be granted for a prescribed period of time , usually 99 or 125 years, although we have seen longer and shorter terms in Wennington. Clearly, the period of lease left reduces as time goes by. This is often overlooked and only becomes a problem when the flat or house has to be disposed of or refinanced. The fewer the years remaining the lower the value of the property and the more it will cost to procure a lease extension. Qualifying leaseholders in Wennington have the legal entitlement to extend the lease for an additional 90 years in accordance with the 1993 Leasehold Reform Act. Please give due attention before delaying your Wennington lease extension. Putting off the cost now likely increases the price you will ultimately incur for a lease extension

Wennington property with a lease extension has roughly the same value as a freehold

It is conventional wisdom that a property with more than one hundred years remaining is worth approximately the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to all but the shortest lease, the premises will be worth the same as a freehold for many years ahead.

Lenders may not finance a property with a short lease

Banks and Building Societies have specific criteria when loaning monies charged on leasehold homes. Many will simply refuse lend at all once an unexpired lease term drops lower than a specified unexpired lease term. Many Lending institutions will not regard property with an unexpired below 75 years as acceptable security. In addition to this being important when selling, it is also relevant if you are intending to remortgage your Wennington property.

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.
Halifax Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Lloyds TSB Scotland Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage.
Nationwide Building Society - Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years.
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).

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
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years.

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 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- 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 is 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 55 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% 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 (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- 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 (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- 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 charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis

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% 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 Issuing Office.
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.

Why use us for your lease extension in Wennington?

The conveyancing solicitors that we work with undertake Wennington 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.

Wennington Lease Extension Example Cases:

Ryan, Wennington, London,

Ryan was the the leasehold proprietor of a conversion flat in Wennington being sold with a lease of a little over sixty years left. Ryan on an informal basis spoke with his freeholder being a well known Bristol-based freehold company and enquired on a premium to extend the lease. The freeholder indicated a willingness to grant an extension taking the lease to 125 years on the basis of a new rent to start with set at £100 per annum and increase every twenty five years thereafter. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be payable on a lease extension were Ryan to exercise his statutory right. Ryan procured expert advice and secured satisfactory deal informally and ending up with a market value flat.

Wennington case:

Last year we were phoned by Mr and Mrs. A Ramírez , who owned a newly refurbished flat in Wennington in September 1995. The dilemma was if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) premium would be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Identical properties in Wennington with an extended lease were worth £171,800. The mid-range ground rent payable was £55 invoiced per annum. The lease expired in 2074. Taking into account 50 years remaining we estimated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £33,300 and £38,400 not including expenses.

Decision in Bexley

An example of a Lease Extension case for a Wennington property 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 was in relation to 13 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 76 years.