79 Year Lease - Good or Bad

jchaffin

I have put an offer in on a 2 bedroom flat worth £197500 and have paid out for a Homebuyers survey and solicitors fees. The vendor told us the lease was 95 years, but we have now been told by the solicitor that it is 79 years (99 years from January 1992).

I have asked that the vendors look into extending the lease before we buy it.

Is 79 years a bad lease? The estate agent said no, but obviously they need the business at the moment.

Any help on this would be great. And can I claim compensation for misdescription of property from the vendors?

Many Thanls.

Matt1977

It is still probably mortgageable @ 79 years - but will it still be mortgageable if you decide to sell it in future? This will put future potential buyers off.

I would perhaps try and negotiate further on the offer in view of the information coming to light concerning the shorter lease.

bris

Only just, 79 years would be condidered borderline. When it gets to 70 it becomes a bit of a real problem and will be expensive to extend. How long do you plan to keep it? If you can't get the seller to extend it may well become your problem in the future.

tiernsee

I looked at a property recently which the EA said had 978 years of a 999 year lease left. They sent me a copy of the lease and I spotted that it was 99 years and not 999 Years, meaning that there is only 78 years left - this immediately put me off. I spoke to my solicitor who said that the issue would not be with buying this property but selling it in the future, as properties with less than 70 years on the lease are difficult to mortgage. I would advise getting the lease extended, reducing the price you would buy at considerably or looking for another property. Good luck.

jchaffin

Thank you for the help. If they don;t extend the lease, I think we will have to pull out. Does anyoen know if I can claim back the £1000 it has cost me in solicitors & survey fees?

Many Thanks.

tiernsee

Not in England - not sure about Scotland. Until contracts are exchanged all expenses you pay are at your own risk.

Recently I was buying a property, had the survey done, searches started then the person selling changed their mind - he didn't have to refund any of the costs I had paid out.

Sorry, I'm sure this isn't what you wanted to hear. Maybe you should investigate getting the lease extended?

Good luck

HRV

I had a flat with a similar length lease (only work about 80K) cost us 10K to extend lease by 99 years. But would be more for flat valued at what yours is- shame they left it- if above 80 years cost if much more reasonable (cant remember why)

Its worth it if you can afford the extra costs to extend lease (or they agree to extend it for you) I think if you want to do ityou have to have live dthere a certain amount of time

HRV

Also just to add- read up on it- the terms they offered me initially were not what they should have been. They offered a new 99 yr lease- should have been 90+existing no. of years and they tried to increase ground rent when in fact should have been peppercorn rent (ie. no ground rent). Had I not read up on this I wouldve got a bad deal.

Yorkie1

If they don't get the lease extended or at least the process started, you won't be able to start the process for 2 years after purchase, by which time the lease will be shorter and thus the extension costs higher.

jchaffin

Thank you for all the advice. We may have to pull out as they are refusing to even get a quote for the lease extension!