It’s a harsh truth that a Wirral residential lease is a deteriorating asset. As the lease term diminishes so does the value of the property. The extent of this is not fully appreciated in the early years due to the deflation being disguised by increases in the Wirral property prices.Once your lease nears 85ish years, you should start considering a lease extension. If the number of years remaining drops below 80 years, you will then be required to pay half of the property's 'marriage value' in addition to the usual cost of the lease extension to the landlord. The marriage fee is the amount of extra value that a lease extension will add the property The majority of leasehold owners in Wirral will be able to extend under the legislation; however a conveyancer should be able to confirm if you are eligibility. In some situations you may not qualify. There are also strict timeframes and procedures to follow once the process is instigated and you will need to be guided by your conveyancing solicitor for the duration of the process.
It is generally accepted that a property with in excess of one hundred years unexpired lease term is worth approximately the equivalent as a freehold. Where an additional 90 years added to all but the shortest lease, the property will be equivalent in value to a freehold for many years in the future.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Nationwide Building Society | |
| Santander | |
| Royal Bank of Scotland | |
| Virgin | |
| Yorkshire Building Society |
The conveyancing solicitors that we work with handle Wirral 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 conveyancer we work with provide it.
In recent months Matthew, came dangerously near to the eighty-year mark with the lease on his purpose- built flat in Wirral. In buying his flat two decades ago, the lease term was of minimal relevance. As luck would have it, he recognised he would imminently be paying an escalated premium for Extending the lease. Matthew extended the lease just under the wire in September. Matthew and the landlord who owned the flat above ultimately agreed on a premium of £5,500 . If he failed to meet the deadline, the sum would have escalated by a minimum £850.
In 2009 we were e-mailed by Mr N Stewart who, having completed a ground floor apartment in Wirral in May 2011. The dilemma was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) price could be to extend the lease by ninety years. Identical homes in Wirral with an extended lease were in the region of £265,000. The mid-range amount of ground rent was £50 billed every twelve months. The lease terminated in 2100. Given that there were 74 years remaining we calculated the compensation to the landlord to extend the lease to be between £9,500 and £11,000 not including expenses.
Last October we were called by Dr Ashleigh David , who owned a purpose-built flat in Wirral in November 2005. We are asked if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would be to prolong the lease by an additional years. Comparative premises in Wirral with 100 year plus lease were valued around £166,400. The average ground rent payable was £60 invoiced monthly. The lease came to a finish on 14 February 2080. Considering the 54 years as a residual term we estimated the premium to the landlord to extend the lease to be within £32,300 and £37,400 not including fees.