Owning a apartment usually means owning a lease of the property, which has a set term of years. your lease will normally be granted for a set period of time , ordinarily 99 or 125 years, although we have witnessed longer and shorter terms in Waltham Abbey. Inevitably, the term of lease left shortens over time. This may slip by relatively unnoticed when the residence has to be sold or re-mortgaged. The shorter the lease the lower the value of the property and the more it will cost to procure a lease extension. Qualifying long lease owners in Waltham Abbey have the right to extend the lease for a further ninety years under Leasehold Reform legislation. Do give careful deliberation before putting off your Waltham Abbey lease extension. Putting off that expense now simply increases the price you will eventually incur to extend your lease
Leasehold properties in Waltham Abbey with in excess of one hundred 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 property. In such situations there is often little upside in purchasing the freehold unless savings on ground rent and maintenance charges merit 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; |
| Godiva Mortgages | 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. |
| Lloyds TSB Scotland | Minimum 70 years from the date of the mortgage. |
| Virgin | 85 years at the time of completion. If it's less, we require it to be extended on or before completion. |
| 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. |
Engaging our service will provide you better control over the value of your Waltham Abbey leasehold, as your property will be more valuable and marketable in respect of lease length should you want to sell. The conveyancing solicitors that we work with have a wealth of experience of handling many hundreds of lease extensions or freehold purchase transactions.
In the wake of 9 months of unsuccessful correspondence with the freeholder of her ground floor apartment in Waltham Abbey, Alexandra initiated the lease extension process as the eighty year threshold was quickly coming. The lease extension completed in June 2015. The freeholder’s costs were kept to an absolute minimum.
Last month we were called by Mrs Sian Simon , who owned a one bedroom flat in Waltham Abbey in October 2012. We are asked if we could approximate the compensation to the landlord could be for a 90 year extension to my lease. Comparative residencies in Waltham Abbey with an extended lease were valued about £285,000. The average ground rent payable was £45 collected per annum. The lease ended in 2096. Considering the 71 years as a residual term we calculated the compensation to the freeholder to extend the lease to be between £12,400 and £14,200 plus fees.
An example of a Freehold Enfranchisement decision for a Waltham Abbey flat is 201 & 201a St. Barnabas Road in October 2013. The Tribunal decided that the price to be paid by the Applicants for the freehold interest is £20,071. This case was in relation to 2 flats. The remaining number of years on the lease was 69.26 years.