Residential Leases – Don’t leave it too late!
Residential Leases – Don’t leave it too late!
Unlike owning a freehold property, owners of leasehold properties need to be more mindful to review what is after all a diminishing asset – otherwise known as a lease. If the term of years held on your lease is below 90 years, you will encounter more difficulty in selling the property or indeed raising finance. This is because a shorter term of years will diminish the value as far as a surveyor is concerned and any institutional lender. If you leave extending your lease until the lease has less than 80 years to run then the cost of extending the lease becomes much more expensive.
Even if you own a long lease, you may unknowingly have aggressive ground rent provisions in your lease (currently being investigated by the Law Commission) and again you may have re-finance and issues selling. There may also be defective lease terms which require a Deed of Variation. Alterations clauses in your lease may have been breached unknowingly and may need remedying by a Licence for Alterations for example.
So do review your lease or better still ask an expert to do it for you before it is too late and you end up paying more to remedy later and at a time which will be probably busy and stressful enough such as selling your leasehold property or simply re-mortgaging.
At IBB we have an enviable reputation for dealing with both statutory and non-statutory lease extensions as well as varying defective leases and any ancillary issues – leaving you safe in the knowledge that you no longer have an asset which is unacceptable to institutional lenders and buyers moving forward.
Contact our experienced property solicitors today
IBB’s team of property law experts are based in Chesham, Buckinghamshire and support clients from all neighbouring areas. We can advise on all aspects of buying, selling and mortgaging property. For more information or advice on buying or selling a property, lease extensions, landlord legal services or any other property matter, please call us today on 01494 790013 or 01494 790071 or email conveyancing@ibblaw.co.uk .