With a residential leasehold premises in West London, you are actually buying an entitlement to live in a property for a prescribed time frame. Modern flat leases are usually granted for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners become complacent as this seems like a lengthy period of time, you may consider extending the lease sooner rather than later. The general rule is that the shorter the number of years is the cost of extending the lease gets disproportionately more expensive particularly when there are fewer than 80 years remaining. Leasehold owners in West London with a lease approaching 81 years left should seriously think of extending it as soon as possible. When the lease term has under eighty years outstanding, under the relevant Act the landlord is entitled to calculate and levy a larger premium, assessed on a technical computation, known as “marriage value” which is payable.
It is generally considered that a residential leasehold with in excess of one hundred years unexpired lease term is worth approximately the same as a freehold. Where an additional 90 years added to any lease with more than 30 years remaining, the property will be worth the same as a freehold for many years ahead.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Accord Mortgages | |
| Halifax | |
| National Westminster Bank | |
| Santander | |
| Skipton Building Society |
The lawyers that we work with handle West London 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.
Sam was the the leasehold owner of a 2 bedroom flat in West London on the market with a lease of just over 59 years left. Sam on an informal basis contacted his freeholder being a well known Bristol-based freehold company for a lease extension. The freeholder was keen to agree an extension on non-statutory terms taking the lease to 125 years on the basis of a new rent initially set at £200 per annum and increase every 25 years thereafter. Ordinarily, ground rent would not be due on a lease extension were Sam to invoke his statutory right. Sam procured expert legal guidance and was able to make a more informed judgement and deal with the matter and ending up with a market value flat.
Mr and Mrs. E Rivera bought a garden flat in West London in September 2009. We are asked if we could estimate the price would be for a ninety year lease extension. Comparative flats in West London with a long lease were valued around £245,000. The average amount of ground rent was £45 invoiced quarterly. The lease expired on 17 May 2094. Having 68 years outstanding we approximated the compensation to the landlord to extend the lease to be within £9,500 and £11,000 plus costs.
An example of a Lease Extension decision for a West London flat is 137 & 139 Haberdasher Street in December 2013. The Tribunal determines in accordance with section 48 and Schedule 13 of the Leasehold Reform, Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 that the premium for the extended lease for each Property should be £12,350.00. This case affected 2 flats. The number of years remaining on the existing lease(s) was 72.39 years.