Stop! Your Lease Extension in West Hendon Could Be FREE

Many leaseholders in West Hendon are unaware that their original lawyer had a duty to warn them about future mortgageability and saleability issues. Before you pay thousands to your freeholder, let us audit your purchase history. You might have a claim that pays for your lease extension in full

If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in West Hendon has dropped toward the 80-year mark, your previous lawyer may be at fault. Our panel of experts specialise in recovering lease extension costs from negligent firms who failed to protect your investment.

Why you should commence your West Hendon lease extension


Why you should start your West Hendon lease extension today:

Increase your lease and increase your West Hendon property value

When it comes to long leasehold property in West Hendon, you are actually buying an entitlement to reside 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 may think about a lease extension 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 80 years left. Residents in West Hendon with a lease approaching 81 years left should seriously consider extending it sooner rather than later. Once the lease term has fewer than eighty years remaining, under the relevant legislation the landlord is entitled to calculate and levy a greater amount, based on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is due.

West Hendon property with a lease extension is almost the same value as a freehold

Leasehold residencies in West Hendon with in excess of 100 years remaining on the lease are often referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your premises. In such situations there is often little to be gained by buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and estate charges warrant it.

Lenders may not loan monies on a short lease

Mortgage companies are making their criteria more stringent and many now expect flats to have a minimum of 60 if not 70 years left at the expiry of the mortgage. Given that many flats in West Hendon were built in the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s this means many now need to be extended if they if they are to be mortgageable.

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.
Barclays plc Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage are not acceptable.

Leases with fewer than 70 years should only be referred to the issuing office where the following scenario applies, as discretion may be applied subject to bank approval:

• Property is located in any of the following prestigious developments: Cadogan, Crown, Grosvenor, Howard de Walden, Portman or Wellcome Trust Estates in Central London AND
• The value of the property subject to the short remaining term is £500,000 or more AND
• The loan to value does not exceed 90% for purchases, 90% like for like re-mortgages, 80% for re-mortgages with any element of capital raising and 80% for existing Barclays mortgage borrowers applying for additional borrowing;
Leeds Building Society 85 years remaining from the start of the mortgage.
Santander You must report the unexpired lease term to us and await our instructions if:
1. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is between 55 and 82 years, but the actual unexpired term differs by more than one year (whether longer or shorter); or
2. the unexpired term assumed by our valuer is more than 82 years but the actual unexpired term is less than 82 years; or
3. no valuation report is provided
However, we will not accept a lease where on expiry of the mortgage:
(i) less than 50 years remain and all or part of the loan is repaid on an interest-only basis: or
(ii) less than 30 years remain and the loan is repaid on a capital and interest basis

We will accept a lease that has been extended under the provisions of the Leasehold Reform Act 1993 provided statutory compensation would be available to the leaseholder.
TSB Minimum of 70 years at mortgage commencement, with 30 years remaining at mortgage redemption.

What makes us experts in West Hendon lease extensions?

The conveyancing solicitors that we work with procure West Hendon 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 conveyancing solicitor we work with provide it.

West Hendon Lease Extension Case Summaries:

Jake, West Hendon, North London

Last year Jake, came dangerously near to the eighty-year mark with the lease on his two bedroom flat in West Hendon. Having purchased his home 18 years ago, the length of the lease was of little importance. by good luck, he recognised he would soon be paying way over the odds for a lease extension. Jake arranged for a lease extension just in the nick of time in September. Jake and the landlord in the end settled on sum of £5,500 . If the lease had descended lower than eighty years, the figure would have gone up by a minimum £1,075.

West Hendon case:

In 2013 we were e-mailed by Mr and Mrs. Y Ward who, having completed a studio apartment in West Hendon in February 2009. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (approximately) compensation to the landlord could be to prolong the lease by 90 years. Identical flats in West Hendon with an extended lease were valued about £237,600. The average amount of ground rent was £45 collected monthly. The lease finished in 2093. Considering the 67 years remaining we estimated the compensation to the landlord to extend the lease to be between £11,400 and £13,200 not including costs.

Decision in Barnet

An example of a Lease Extension matter before the tribunal for a West Hendon residence is First Floor Flat 61 Wilberforce Road in March 2014. The premium payable was £10,130 and the case was remitted back to the Willesden County Court to effect the Vesting Order (Claim No 3W103100). This case related to 1 flat. The unexpired residue of the current lease was 71 years.