Unfortunately that a Maida Vale residential lease is a wasting asset. The lease value reduces in proportion to its lease length. The extent of this is taken for granted in the first few years due to the depreciation being disguised by increases in the Maida Vale property market.Once your lease gets to 85ish years, you should start thinking about a lease extension. If the number of years remaining slips under eighty years, you will end up paying 50% of the property's 'marriage value' on top of the usual cost of the lease extension to the landlord. Marriage value is the amount of extra value that a lease extension will add the property The majority of flat owners in Maida Vale will be able to extend under the legislation; however a conveyancer should be able to clarify if you are eligibility. In some cases you may not qualify. There are also strict timeframes and procedures to be adhered to once the process has commenced and you will need to be guided by your conveyancer from beginning to end of the process.
Leasehold premises in Maida Vale with over one hundred years unexpired on the lease are sometimes referred to as ‘virtual freehold’. This is where the lease value the same as a freehold interest in your home. In such situations there is often little upside in buying the freehold unless savings on ground rent and service charges justify it.
| Lender | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Barclays plc | Leases with less than 70 years at the commencement of the mortgage should be declined (see exception below). Leases with greater than 70 years but fewer than 85 years remaining must be referred to issuing office. 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; |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| 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. |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
Retaining our service will provide you enhanced control over the value of your Maida Vale leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and marketable in respect of lease length should you wish to sell. The conveyancers that we work with are well versed in the legislation handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
Off the back of lengthy correspondence with the freeholder of her studio flat in Maida Vale, Anna initiated the lease extension process just as the lease was approaching the all-important 80-year threshold. The lease extension completed in August 2008. The freeholder’s charges were restricted to about 550 GBP.
Last year we were called by Mrs Alicia Sharif , who was assigned a lease of a ground floor flat in Maida Vale in June 2009. The question was if we could shed any light on how much (roughly) premium would likely be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Identical homes in Maida Vale with an extended lease were worth £200,000. The average amount of ground rent was £50 invoiced monthly. The lease ended in 2103. Having 78 years unexpired we estimated the premium to the freeholder for the lease extension to be within £8,600 and £9,800 plus professional charges.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Maida Vale premises is 4 & 4A Charteris Road in June 2009. the Tribunal held that the price to be paid for the enfranchisement of 4/4a Charteris Road to be £15,510 for at 4and £15,694 for at 4a This case affected 2 flats. The unexpired term was 70.02 years.