Lease remaining 91-97 years

Helplesssheep

Hello,

I am a first time buyer, with very little knowledge on property buying and I do not have family with expertise on this. I have another thread on areas to buy. Some of the places I am interested in are lease lengths of 91/92/97 years. I am mostly excluding the first two, but thought 97 might be ok. Could anyone offer advice? Is it fine to buy properties with leases of all these lengths or should I be looking for a lot higher solely?

Thanks!

NameUnavailable

I would look for about 110 as a minimum. Why? because if you live there for say 7 years, with the shorter leases you are going to find it harder to sell or have to pay for a lease extension. Something with 100 plus years will still look OK to a new buyer.

Of course it does also depend on the property and the price you can get it for - a bargain property with 85 years might still be a great buy, if you can extend the lease and still be quids in, but it amazes me how many vendors and agents (shame on you, as an ex agent myself) don't take lease length into account with their asking prices.

Helplesssheep

Ok that’s helpful, I’d been considering putting an offer in on somewhere that is 97 years but probably should rethink that

mjm3346

Leasehold article on the main site

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/mortgages/extend-your-lease/

hazyjo

Helplesssheep said:

Ok that’s helpful, I’d been considering putting an offer in on somewhere that is 97 years but probably should rethink that

Personally, if I was buying a flat, I'd have no problem with 97 years. You could extend the lease within 7 years without getting below 90. 87 and I'd be understandably nervous!

bouicca21

The magic number is 80.  But I wouldn’t believe anything an EA says, I’d be asking to see the lease and service charge demands.  I’d also want to check the ground rent and whether there is an escalation clause - how often does it increase and by how much?

Helplesssheep

 hazyjo said:

Helplesssheep said:

Ok that’s helpful, I’d been considering putting an offer in on somewhere that is 97 years but probably should rethink that

Personally, if I was buying a flat, I'd have no problem with 97 years. You could extend the lease within 7 years without getting below 90. 87 and I'd be understandably nervous!

Thanks this is helpful. I had read the MSE thread before but wanted to hear more from personal experiences. My feeling was 97 was ok and solvable but not 92 and sounds like you feel the same. My thinking is, if I consider putting an offer in, to enquire about the freeholder and the ease of extending lease to at least explore red flags there? 

eddddy

Helplesssheep said:

... to enquire about the freeholder and the ease of extending lease to at least explore red flags there? 

I'm not sure that you'll get necessarily get helpful answers to a question about the ease of extending a lease....

For example, I doubt the seller would admit something like "The freeholder is a complete b******, so they'll probably lie to you, string you along and generally make life very difficult for you when you try to extend your lease." (And some freeholders really will do that.)

Even if you decide to do a 'Statutory Lease Extension' - so you have the protection of the law - the freeholder can still play some dirty tricks.