Flat Lease Length Less Than Advertised

Flat_Buyer_First_Time

I have seen threads relating to this before but most of them dealt with differences of lease lengths for leaseholds that were well over 100 years and had minimal impact on the valuation of the property one way or another. However, I find myself in a slightly different situation.

I am in the process of buying a flat with a lease length advertised of 93 years. Researching this before making an offer I expected to extend the lease if I planned to hold onto the flat for 5 or more years in order to get the lease extension done safely before the 80 year limit and at the cheapest price. I factored the cost of this into my offer and stated as much when I made the offer. Through investigations it now looks like the lease length is 87/88 years. Whilst 5 years might not sound like a huge amount of time, it will make the extension more expensive, it puts additional pressure to get the lease extended earlier and I would have offered a different original amount had I been aware.

Am I justified in pursuing a reduction in price? Any advice?

G_M

Common problem. Many flat owners have no idea how long their leases have left to run. And estate agents can only go by what their clients (the owner/seller) tell them.


But yes - by allmeans use this to try to reduce the price. Bear in mind the seller is under no obligation to agree and may believe he can find another buyer willing to pay what you've offered. Or not.

jonnygee2

Out of interest, how much do you think this changes the value by?

I'd say the extra value of the lease extension, maybe a teensy bit extra because a small minority wouldn't buy a flat with <90 years lease.

Does this actually come to an amount worth negotiating?

Tom99

Probably make about 0.5% difference if you look at the two lease extension prices.
So £500 less for every £100,000 of capital value.

Okrib

G_M wrote: »

Common problem. Many flat owners have no idea how long their leases have left to run. And estate agents can only go by what their clients (the owner/seller) tell them.


But yes - by allmeans use this to try to reduce the price. Bear in mind the seller is under no obligation to agree and may believe he can find another buyer willing to pay what you've offered. Or not.

Shouldn't be a common problem. When I was an agent we had to check the title plan and lease from Land Registry for compliance reasons prior to listing a property. This is how it should always be done.