Buying new flat 67 years lease remaining !

cheeky-virgin

hello all

I have seen a property to buy and its Double bed room flat , i love this flat but my agent told me that 67 years lease is remaining on this flat and it is based in london East Ham and he is agreed on 170K

but could you suggest me that ...should i go for that ?

is there any negative point to buy if lease is left just for 67 years ..?

and also my property agent told me that i can topup lease time by paying 14000 pounds after a year or so ...

Basically i am willing to keep this property for maximum 3 to 5 years ...

is there any problem if i buy right now without caring 67 years lease time ?

Thanks.

dankes

Hi CheekyVirgin

67 years is pretty low on a lease and you'll have real probblems selling it when the time comes if you don't extend it.

Things to do to help yourself:
a) Ask for written proof that it will cost £14,000 to extend the lease - because on top of that you'll probably have to pay for the freeholder's costs (solicitor, surveyor, admin, etc). As well as your own solicitor costs, which could push up the amount even further.

b) See if they will take that £14,000 off the asking price, or at least some of it. They may say that's reflected in the selling price, but with the amount of properties on the market at the moment because of HIPS they may be open to negotiate.

c) Ask the vendor to also sign the lease over to you so you don't have to wait two years (the usual amount of time) to qualify to extend the lease. Because waiting that time will add to how much it'll cost to extend the lease - the lower it is the more it costs to extend it.

Hope that's helpful and good luck with it.

D x

cattie

£170k for a 1 bed with just 67yrs left on lease & situated in East Ham sounds a tad expensive to me.

You do need to find out the likely cost of extending the lease or buying the freehold to work out whether the flat is worth the money or if you'd be better off looking elsewhere for a better prospect.

I'd not go near a lease that had less than 83 yrs remaining & you need to be aware that a lease with less than 80yrs remaining will cost a lot more than one of over 80yrs. This is because of something called marriage value.

These are the best people to give you advice on most aspects associated with owning leasehold property. It's a government funded agency. http://www.lease-advice.org/newintro.htm

You should find some info on marriage value on their pages, to give you some understanding of just what it is.