To Buy with 72 years leasehold left... is it bad or not?

morten44

Hi,

I hope you can clarify this for me ...

I am interested in buying a flat, but it has 72 years leasehold left.

I heard somehwere properities under 99 years leasehold are difficult to sell...

Can anyone confirm whether this would be a bad buying or not ??

Thanks

pinkshoes

Under 99 isn't so bad, but I would be wary about anything under 80. Could you ask the vendor about extending it? Or find out how much it will cost to extend? Often flats with a short lease left will be reflected in the price.

How much is a comparable flat with a longer lease of over 100 years?

morten44

Hi Pinkshoes,

I guess I could ask EA to ask the vendor...

Now if he didnt want ( flat is selling very cheap), and i had to do it as new owner, where do I extend this? At the Council ?

Sorry my ignorance, FTB here

EdInvestor

It's getting towards the level where you'd want an extension (under 70).You should ask the vendor to request this from the freeholder - you can't ask for an extension until you've lived in the property for 2 years, so he should at least put it in motion, even if you actually finish off the transaction..

It might put the price up a little bit - and if there's no extension, that might put the price down a bit.

The question of whether it's bad or not relates to whether or not you can get a mortgage, usually not a problem until the lease gets down to around 50 years.

Norroy

The freeholder would need to be contacted in order to buy a standard 90 year extension from him.

The cost will depend on the value of the property, the area and the ground rent due over the next 72 years.

cats!

You could reflect the need for lease renewal at a later date in any offer you make now. A surveyor will be able to advise you better.

takoo

Consider whether the seller or you (in a few years time) can extend the lease under the relevant statute. If one of you can it should be fairly cheap in terns of a higher ground rent ( a modern ground rent if it applies to 70 + years hence.

Probably need a professional valuation surveyor to advise you but your solicitor should be able to tell you the Act etc.

All the best

Takoo

Kavanne

You will have to contact the freeholder and get a 'lease extension valuation' from a surveyor. If you search 'lease extension' on google some good links come up.

We're buying a property that has 80 years left on it now, we understand that extending the lease in 2 yrs is going to cost us more than if we made the vendor start the process now (due to something called the 'marriage value') but we decided we will cross that bridge when we come to it as our vendor is antsy and we got a good price for the place.

My solicitor thinks I am stupid but frankly he is so useless and expects me to do everything so we just gave up with it. Will use a different solicitor when we come to extend the lease!

We may even try and buy the freehold with the flat upstairs in a few years if they are up for it (I hope so)