If you are facing a significant premium because your lease in Great Barford 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 Great Barford lease extension today:
Increase your lease and increase your Great Barford property value
With a long leasehold premises in Great Barford, you are actually purchasing a right to reside in a property for a prescribed time frame. Modern flat leases typically tend to be for 99 years or 125. Many leasehold owners become complacent as this seems like a lengthy period of time, you should 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 becomes disproportionately greater notably once there are less than 80 years left. Leasehold owners in Great Barford with a lease nearing 81 years left should seriously think of extending it as soon as possible. Once the lease term has below 80 years outstanding, under the current statute the freeholder is entitled to calculate and charge a larger amount, assessed on a technical computation, strangely termed as “marriage value” which is due.
Great Barford property with a lease extension is almost the same value as a freehold
It is conventional wisdom that a property with in excess of 100 years remaining is worth roughly the same as a freehold. Where an additional ninety years added to any lease with more than 45 years unexpired, the property will be worth the same as a freehold for decades to come.
Mortgage lenders may decide not to issue a mortgage on a short lease
Almost all mortgage companies will not grant a mortgage on a lease with under 70 years left to run - although this varies from lender to lender. A buyer will no doubt find it difficult in obtaining a mortgage and this could result in your Great Barford property becoming difficult to dispose of or to obtain finance on.
| Lender |
Requirement
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| Chelsea Building Society |
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.
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| 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.
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| National Westminster Bank |
Mortgage term plus 30 years.
For Shared Ownership, the remaining term of the lease must be at least 30 years plus the term of the mortgage at the outset of the mortgage.
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| Nationwide Building Society |
- Our minimum unexpired lease term is 55 years, except where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat, in which case our minimum unexpired term is 90 years.
- There must be at least 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term (regardless of the length of lease at the start).
Where the unexpired lease term is different to that recorded on the mortgage offer, the following clarifies if we need to be informed:
Second hand property:
- If the unexpired lease term on the offer is 85 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 85 years
- if the unexpired lease term on the offer is less than 85 years – advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported
- For equity share applications - advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
- Where lending is over 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat and the unexpired lease term on the offer is 90 years or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 90 years.
New build property:
- If the unexpired lease term stated on the offer is 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house) or more - only advise us if the actual lease term is less than 125 years (flat) / 250 years (house)
- For equity share applications - always advise us if the actual lease term is different than reported on the offer
Lease terms such as ground rent and event fees must be reasonable at all times during the term of the lease and adhere to our requirements below. If you’re unsure as to whether the terms of a lease are unreasonable or onerous, please refer the details to us in plain English for Valuer consideration. If the potentially onerous terms are in relation to the ground rent please include the current ground rent figure per annum, how often it will be reviewed and the price structure it will be reviewed against. See the guidance below.
SECOND HAND PROPERTIES
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined):
- Unexpired lease term less than 55 years
- Unexpired lease term less than 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat
- Less than 30 years remaining at the end of the mortgage term
- Ground Rent greater than 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent doubles less than every 20 years (e.g. doubles every 5, 10 or 15 years) - acceptable if doubles every 20 years or more
- Ground Rent is compounded RPI
- Ground Rent review period is less than or equal to 5 years
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Unexpired lease term is 55 to 85 years
- Ground Rent greater than 0.1% and less than or equal to 0.5% of the property value
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to any indices greater than RPI
- Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building*
- Ground Rent review period is greater than 5 and less than 10 years
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial, etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything that appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than 85 years (Minimum 90 years where we are lending more than 85% of the purchase price/valuation on a second hand flat)
- Ground Rent less than or equal to 0.1% of the property value
- Ground Rent review period greater than or equal to 10 years
- Ground Rent escalation less than or equal to RPI
NEW BUILD PROPERTIES (includes office conversions)
Unacceptable - advise Issuing Office (Will be declined)
- Unexpired lease term less than 125 years on a new build flat or less than 250 years on a new build house (does not apply to Shared Ownership)
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
- Any lease which is subject to a Ground Rent (or Annual Rent) being charged which is more than on a peppercorn basis
Refer to Issuing Office (Valuer will consider any impact on valuation figure and marketability):
- Event clauses exist for normal use e.g. changing the carpet, installing a TV aerial etc
- Estate Rent Charges greater than £500 p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Service Charges greater than 1% of property value p/a (please provide details of what the charges cover)
- Anything else appears onerous, unusual or out of the ordinary
Acceptable (no requirement to advise Issuing Office):
- Unexpired lease term greater than or equal to 125 years on a new build flat or greater than or equal to 250 years on a new build house
- A lease subject to a peppercorn Ground Rent (Annual Rent) charges
For the avoidance of doubt, any New Build properties completed but not sold pre-30 June 2022 will only be acceptable if the Lease conforms to the above guidance.
* Where the Ground Rent escalation is linked to the value of the building, please provide the following:
- How is the value of the block/unit currently calculated and if the assessment relates to the block(s), how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned per property?
- The current valuation and Ground Rent for each unit
- What is the mechanism for future valuations of the block and how is the Ground Rent calculated/apportioned?
- What is the right of appeal? And is this a documented process within the lease?
- Who bears the cost of the valuation (and appeal) process?
- Confirmation the review period is not less than twenty years.
Lease Extensions We require all Lease Extensions to be completed under the Leasehold Reform Housing and Urban Development Act 1993 and to meet the above criteria as a minimum. Where a proposed Lease Extension does not meet these requirements, however you feel that this is in the best interest for our mutual client, please refer all details to the Issuing Office for us to consider.
Please ensure that all lender enquiries are submitted (with full documentation/requirements) at least 2 weeks prior to exchange to allow sufficient time for review and decisioning.
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| Yorkshire Building Society |
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.
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Get in touch with one of our Great Barford lease extension solicitors or enfranchisement solicitors
Lease extensions in Great Barford can be a difficult process. We recommend you procure professional help from a conveyancer and valuer with experience in lease extensions.
We provide you with an expert from a selection of lease extension solicitors, which ensures a targeted and efficient service as you have a dedicated port of call with an individual lawyer. Our lease extension solicitors have in-depth market knowledge dealing with Great Barford lease extensions and further afield, as well as any potential issues which may arise as well as problems with the Leasehold Valuation Tribunal.
Great Barford Lease Extension Case Summaries:
Morgan, Great Barford, Bedfordshire,
Following unsuccessful negotiations with the freeholder of her two bedroom flat in Great Barford, Morgan started the lease extension process just as her lease was coming close to the crucial 80-year deadline. The transaction was finalised in April 2011. The freeholder’s costs were negotiated to about six hundred pounds.
Great Barford case:
Last year we were called by Ms E Nguyen , who
completed a newly refurbished apartment in Great Barford in July 2006. We are asked if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord could be to extend the lease by 90 years. Comparable premises in Great Barford with 100 year plus lease were worth £174,200. The average amount of ground rent was £55 billed monthly. The lease terminated on 18 October 2077. Taking into account 51 years remaining we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be between £31,400 and £36,200 plus legals.
Great Barford case:
Dr I Reed purchased a recently refurbished apartment in Great Barford in March 2011. The question was if we could estimate the compensation to the landlord would likely be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Similar flats in Great Barford with 100 year plus lease were worth £285,000. The mid-range ground rent payable was £45 invoiced yearly. The lease terminated on 3 May 2097. Having 71 years unexpired we approximated the compensation to the landlord for the lease extension to be within £12,400 and £14,200 not including legals.