Selling Flat with 73 Year Lease

jamiesanders

Hi guys,

I'm wondering if anyone might be able to point us in the right direction. We are planning on putting our flat up for sale in the next couple of weeks. Unfortunately, we let the lease run down to 73 years which we know is not ideal. I have a couple of questions!

1. Will banks still lend on a 73 year lease?

2. I've heard that we can do a section 45 notice to he leaseholder in the new buyers name which means that they can extend the lease immediately if they choose to do so. Has anyone had any experience with this? The leaseholder is asking for £750 (valuation) + solicitors fees just to kick off the survey for the lease extension. Can we avoid these costs if we simply put the flat up for sale and then serve the section 45 notice once the buyer has exchanged contracts?

Thanks in advance

ethank

1. Every lender will have their own policy. The information is in the Council of Mortgage Lenders Handbook. Visit the website at http://www.cml.org.uk/cml/handbook/englandandwales/question-list/321 - it will list all of the lenders and what their minimum lease length is. I sold my flat in Bedfordshire 7 months ago with 72.5 years to go, there was no issues at all.

2. You can do this. Have you tried marketing you house yet? This process takes money and time to go through, for something that you will never have the benefit of. I would see how you do when it is on the market.

Campervanman

Make sure you instruct the EA to be very clear what the lease is and ensure they market the property at a price that takes in to account the need for a lease extension. We have just been viewing properties. We asked the lease length before viewing and the EA was vague (fairly longish I think, best to have a look and I will find out). When we viewed three properties with him he only told us they had short leases when we were in the property and the prices had already been adjusted. With the lease extension they were out of our price range. Another EA was up front - length of lease, cost to extend, possible routes to extension. Created a much stronger possiblity of sale.