West Hampstead residential property held on a long lease is a wasting asset because a leaseholder merely owns the property for a set term.
Leasehold properties in West Hampstead with in excess of 100 years outstanding on the lease are often regarded as a ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease is worth the same as a freehold interest in your property. In such situations there is often little upside in buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and estate charges merit it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Bank of Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Barclays plc | Mortgage term plus 25 years provided that leases of less than 85 years are be referred to us for approval. |
| 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. |
| Leeds Building Society | 85 years remaing from the start of the mortgage. |
Engaging our service will provide you better control over the value of your West Hampstead leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and saleable in relation to the lease length should you decide to sell. The lawyers that we work with have a in-depth market knowledge handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
Last Winter Toby, came seriously near to the 80-year threshold with the lease on his studio apartment in West Hampstead. In buying his home twenty years previously, the lease term was of no bearing. Luckily, it dawned on him that he would soon be paying way over the odds for a lease extension. Toby was able to extend his lease just in the nick of time last May. Toby and the landlord ultimately agreed on a premium of £5,000 . If the lease had dipped lower than eighty years, the amount would have increased by at least £1,050.
Ms Georgina Roux moved into a newly refurbished flat in West Hampstead in July 2008. The dilemma was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) price could be for a 90 year lease extension. Comparative homes in West Hampstead with a long lease were in the region of £275,000. The average amount of ground rent was £55 billed yearly. The lease expired in 2098. Having 77 years as a residual term we approximated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be between £13,300 and £15,400 plus legals.
An example of a Lease Extension case for a West Hampstead property is Flat A 372 Cricklewood Lane in January 2013. The Tribunal decided that the premium for the extended lease should be £5,750.00 and that the terms of the new lease should be those set out in annex to the decsion This case affected 1 flat.