With a residential leasehold property in West Hampstead, you are actually purchasing a right to live in a property for a prescribed time frame. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Even though this may appear like a long period of time, you should think about extending the lease sooner as opposed to later. Accepted thinking is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease increases markedly especially when there are less than eighty years remaining. Residents in West Hampstead with a lease approaching 81 years left should seriously think of extending it sooner than later. Once a lease has less than eighty years remaining, under the relevant statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and charge a larger premium, based on a technical calculation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is payable.
Leasehold properties in West Hampstead with over one hundred years left 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 circumstances there is often little to be gained by buying the reversionary interest unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges warrant it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Birmingham Midshires | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| 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 remaining from the start of the mortgage. |
| Lloyds TSB 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. |
Regardless of whether you are a tenant or a freeholder in West Hampstead,the lease extension solicitors that we work with will always be willing to discuss any residential leasehold matters and offer you the benefit of their experience and the close ties they enjoy with West Hampstead valuers.
During the course of the last few months Evan, came precariously close to the eighty-year threshold with the lease on his purpose- built flat in West Hampstead. Having bought his home two decades ago, the lease term was of no concern. by good luck, it dawned on him that he needed to take steps soon on a lease extension. Evan extended the lease at the eleventh hour last September. Evan and the freeholder via the managing agents ultimately agreed on the final figure of £6,000 . If the lease had slipped below 80 years, the figure would have become more exhorbitant by at least £1,100.
Last Winter we were called by Mr S Rodríguez , who completed a studio apartment in West Hampstead in February 1995. We are asked if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord could be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Identical residencies in West Hampstead with a long lease were in the region of £260,000. The average amount of ground rent was £50 invoiced yearly. The lease ran out on 10 May 2098. Given that there were 72 years as a residual term we approximated the premium to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £9,500 and £11,000 plus fees.
An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal 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 was in relation to 1 flat.