Why do I need my lease checked before I market my property?
If you are not sure of the details of your lease it will be very difficult for an agent to sell your property.
This is because any proposed buyer will want to know of any charges that they will incur if they were to own the property. They will also want to know who they have to deal with in light of any problems/maintenance/repair of the property, and of any responsibilities inherited with the purchase.
When a proposed buyer is submitting a mortgage application, lenders require information such as ground rent/maintenance/insurance charges and the balance of the lease. All this information is considered by the lender before they approve lending against a property. So if this information is not available, any proposed sale will be delayed or even fail to proceed.
Why might my lease have to be extended?
Mortgage companies do not lend on a leasehold property that has less than 70 years remaining on the lease. If this is the case with your lease you may have to extend it in order to make your property saleable and protect its open market value.
Buyers are generally advised by their solicitors to be wary of any property with less than 80 years lease remaining. This is because the new owner would have a problem if they were to try and re-sell in the future (as they would incur the cost of extending the lease at that stage).
The condition of your lease also has a dramatic effect on the saleability of your property, and ultimately the value. For example, did you know that the cost of extending a lease can jump alarmingly if there is less than 80 years left of the term? This is referred to as the ‘Marriage Value’ between the value of your property in relation to the condition of the lease.
It is also obvious that a ‘healthy lease’ is a very good selling point of any leasehold property.
What would be the consequence of not having my lease checked before marketing?
The majority of leasehold property sales fall through because of lease issues uncovered after considerable time and expenses have been incurred by both the buyer and the seller.
Our free ‘Lease Check’ service will help you avoid potential sale problems, and can resolve any issues at the start of the moving process, before you are financially committed to moving. We have access to a number of specialist solicitors that have experience in this field.
How do I take advantage of the ‘Lease Check’ service?
You provide a copy of the lease to us, and we will review it and advise if any issues need to be resolved. If you do not have your lease our solicitor can obtain a copy from land registry.
The solicitor will;
- Review the lease term
- Consider the need to update the out-dated provisions
- Assist in finding a missing landlord
- Consider the benefit of buying the freehold or taking over management responsibilities
- Advise on extending the lease and assessing involved costs
- Advise on collation of paperwork at an early stage in an attempt to avoid problems associated with leasehold properties
- Address any other concerns or questions that you may have.
What’s the catch?
There is no catch. The solicitor offers this service FREE of charge hoping that they will act for you once a sale is arranged.
What do I do now?
Contact us and we will be happy to help and advise you.
